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While all eyes were fixed on the presidential race Tuesday night, there were other critical races worth paying attention to. Races for seat in both the Senate and House of Representatives were decided on Election Night, and today we’re focusing on some of those highlights and how they might impact government over the next two years until the 2022 midterms.
The slate of young, progressive Representatives often referred to collectively as “the Squad” won reelection. Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar, Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib all won reelection in their respective districts. While many right-leaning pundits and conservative voters alike had hoped at least one of the progressive newcomers would fail in their reelection bid, this was not the case.
The Squad’s sweeping reelection largely points to the motivation of voters in their districts. The four representatives are even joined by more progressive newcomers who upset Democratic establishment candidates in the 2020 primaries.
Each comes from a distinctly progressive part of the country, so it’s not as surprising as some right-leaning outlets are making it out to be. What is more surprising, however, is how many left-leaning outlets thought that Mitch McConnell had a chance to lose his Senate seat.
Arguably the biggest story from election night for the Senate is that Mitch McConnell defeated challenger Amy McGrath by a landslide. While most pundits admitted that the Democratic challenger’s bid was a long shot, the forceful rejection of her policies by Kentucky voters surprised even some conservatives.
Nearly sixty percent of voters cast their ballot for McConnell, sending the Senate Majority Leader back to his sought-after seat.
This comes after months of Democrats fantasizing about gaining control of the Senate. The Electoral map was even in their favor going into Election Day. However, Republicans were able to deftly outperform Democratic challenges in critical states, making it unlikely that the Senate will be flipped blue this year.
At the time of this writing, it appears as though the Senate will keep its Republican majority. Meanwhile, Democrats maintain their majority in the House of Representatives. As of the time of this writing, the results of the presidential election are still up in the air. President Trump has claimed victory, though challenger Joe Biden has insisted that he can still win and has demanded that the race not be called until all outstanding votes are tallied.
