Democrats Win the Senate, Officially Preventing a Full GOP Takeover of Congress

Democrats were bracing for a “red wave” in Tuesday’s midterms. But in a big victory, the party has maintained their Senate majority — and, depending on how Georgia’s Senate race plays out in December, could actually expand it. On Saturday night, Nevada senator Catherine Cortez Masto was projected to win her Senate race, cementing Democratic control in the upper chamber. “Tonight more than ever, I’m thinking of my friend Harry Reid,” Majority Leader Chuck Schumer tweeted of the late Senate leader, whose legacy in building a powerful Democratic machine in Nevada remained fully in tact after Saturday night.

Republicans this fall had been confident they would ride historical headwinds to victory in the House. But among those who had been less bullish on their prospects in the Senate, was none other than Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who openly expressed concerns about the “candidate quality” his party had put forth in the form of hopefuls like Mehmet Oz and Herschel Walker. John Fetterman won his race against Oz, in a race that was called on election night and gave Democrats a clear path to a Senate majority. Still, polarization kept races that should have been Democratic blowouts close — by the weekend, Schumer was winning his reelection at a smaller margin than Michael Bennet and Patty Murray had won theirs in Colorado and Washington state, respective. The “R” next to Walker’s name kept supposedly anti-abortion GOP officials from concerning themselves too much with the procedures the former football star had allegedly paid for.

Ultimately, Democrats prevailed, winning deciding races in Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada.

Though there had been frustration among Democrats over the last two years, which have been reflected in President Joe Biden’s poll numbers, their current 50-50 majority — led by Schumer, with a tie-breaking vote from Kamala Harris — has been productive. Facing obstruction from Republicans and at times within their own party, the Democrats have passed a massive COVID relief bill, an infrastructure package that eluded Biden’s predecessor, the most significant gun safety legislation in decades, and a historic climate, tax, and healthcare bill. “It’s a game-changer,” Schumer said on the Senate floor after the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in August.

Democrats got a boost from that legislative surge late in the summer, but it wasn’t clear if it would last until the fall midterms. In pulling out the win, Democrats will be sure to keep Republicans from a full Capitol Hill takeover (the control of the House has yet to be decided). That doesn’t necessarily extinguish the threat to democracy posed by Donald Trump’s Republican Party, nor does it guarantee the success of Biden’s agenda going forward. But Democrats at least managed to maintain one guardrail against Trumpism.