Republican ‘red wave’ hopes fizzle in US midterm vote
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives a victory speech after defeating Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Charlie Crist during his election night watch party at the Tampa Convention Center on November 8, 2022 in Tampa, Florida. DeSantis was the projected winner by a double-digit lead. Photo by Octavio Jones / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
President Joe Biden's agenda hung in the balance early Wednesday as a predicted Republican wave failed to materialize in congressional elections fought against a backdrop of stubbornly high inflation and fears for US democracy.
Tuesday's election saw a clearer verdict in races for states' governors with rising Republican star Ron DeSantis winning by a crushing margin in Florida, cementing his status as a top potential White House candidate in 2024.
Democrats suffered disappointment in Ohio as writer J.D. Vance, a Trump-endorsed chronicler of working-class white life, won a Senate seat that was already in Republican hands.
But in House races, one Ohio Republican conceded defeat to a Democrat and two Democratic congresswomen in Virginia seen as at risk survived challenges, although a third seat in the eastern state flipped.
The election is "definitely not a Republican wave, that's for darn sure," Senator Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally, told NBC News.
Senator Ted Cruz, who had previously forecast a "red tsunami," still predicted Republicans would win both chambers but said, "It hasn't been as big of a wave as I'd hoped it would be."
The president's party has traditionally lost seats in midterm elections, with Republicans roaring back after the first two years of both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton.
With Biden's favorability ratings hovering in the low 40s and Republicans pounding him over inflation and crime, many pundits predicted major losses — which would raise new questions on whether America's oldest-ever president, who turns 80 this month, should run again.
All eyes are on a handful of Senate races including in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Arizona, and Wisconsin, with a single seat enough to swing control of the Senate — now evenly divided and controlled by Democrats only through the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Kamala Harris.
Florida swings right
On a night of close contests, one of the most decisive wins was for DeSantis, who has made a name in Florida by railing against Covid mitigation measures and transgender rights.