With Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto defeating GOP challenger Adam Laxalt in their Nevada senate race, Democrats secured the 50 seats they needed to stay in control of the U.S. Senate. The race was called Sunday after days of vote-counting.
During her victory speech in Las Vegas on Sunday, Cortez Masto said her win shows that "Nevadans rejected the far-right politicians working to divide us" as she vowed to continue fighting for immigrant communities.
But only by about 6,500 votes, 0.7% of the total cast. And even thinner margins are likely separate the few remaining house races to be called, with both parties within distance of the 218 House seats needed to control the chamber's business. Through most poll-watchers still favor Republicans to win control, it will be by a handful of seats at best. The party is already in angry denial about what went wrong.
The biggest factor in the GOP's underwhelming midterm performance, says the Los Angeles Times in an editorial, was the party's "attempts to put election deniers in charge of elections" in numerous swing states. Democrats beat "far-right opponents" for secretary of state — the official who oversees elections — in Michigan, New Mexico, and Minnesota. "Georgia voters re-elected Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — who famously rebuffed Trump's plea to "find" enough votes to make him victorious in 2020 — after rejecting a Trump-backed challenger in the primary."
Trump is supposed to announce his 2024 run for President tomorrow, and it's not clear we'll even know who controls Congress by then!
Correction: Nevada, not Arizona
