As of Wednesday afternoon, the day after the 2020 presidential election, the contest for the White House is still not settled, with recounts and challenges expected in battleground states such as Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada. Whether President Donald Trump ends up winning a second term or he is defeated by former Vice President Joe Biden, the impact of the election on Congress is also of vital importance.
It appears that the Republicans will be able to keep a majority in the U.S. Senate. Because of that, if the Republicans stick together, they can frustrate much of the extreme leftist agenda that has been advocated by Democratic Party leaders such as Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. Schumer and other Democrats have openly advocated passing legislation to pack the Supreme Court with enough new members so as to negate the apparent advantage Trump gave to the more constitutionalist view with his three successful nominations to the High Court. They have openly suggested that they intend to add both the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico as states, with the presumption that both would be reliably Democratic. According to Schumer, the filibuster would have also been on the chopping block had his party taken the Senate. Biden has also promised to attack the oil and gas industry, and to ask for massive tax increases.
Not only were the Democrats hopeful of taking the Senate, they had expressed optimism they could add to their 232-197 majority in the House of Representatives. In addition to not adding to their House advantage, the Democrats lost seats. Exactly how many seats the Democrats lost is uncertain, but analysts see the Republicans picking up at least five seats, and probably more. Republicans gained seats in Oklahoma, New Mexico, Minnesota, Florida, and at least two other states.
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Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, “So I’m very, very proud of the fact that tonight, relatively early, we’re able to say that we have held the House.”
Even Representative Cheri Bustos of Illinois, who chaired the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and had predicted a good performance on election day, was in danger of losing her own seat in Congress to a Republican challenger, Esther Joy King.
Although the Republicans will fall short of taking the House of Representatives, the gains will make it more difficult for the Democrats to pass their desired radical legislation for the next two years, and will make it more likely the Republicans can complete the process of recapturing House control in 2022, especially if Biden were to squeak out a presidential victory over Trump.
Reports indicate that the more openly left-wing members of the House Democratic majority are angry about the losses, which could result in a challenge Pelosi’s speakership. The “Squad,” the group four of very left-wing representatives — Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) — is expected to add even more members to their radical group. For example, newly elected House candidates Jamal Bowman and Mondaire Jones of New York and Cori Bush of Missouri are expected to fit in well with Ocasio-Cortez, Omar, Tlaib, and Pressley.
With reduced numbers in the Democratic Party caucus, it is expected that this radical group will wield even more clout in the Democratic Party in the next Congress.
Among the Democrat incumbents who went down to defeat in the 2020 elections was Representative Kendra Horn of Oklahoma. Horn won an upset victory over the incumbent Republican in 2018 — the first time that a Democrat had won Oklahoma’s 5th congressional district since 1974. When Horn was first elected, she played the typical “moderate” card widely used by other Democrats in 2018 — even implying that she might not vote for Pelosi for speaker of the House. Of course she did vote for Pelosi, and Horn even voted to impeach President Trump — which proved quite unpopular in Oklahoma. Horn lost yesterday to Republican State Senator Stephanie Bice.
In Minnesota, Republican Michelle Fischbach ousted Representative Collin Peterson, who had actually voted against Trump’s impeachment and expressed pro-life views.
Among Republican incumbents to win was Representative Ann Wagner in a St. Louis suburb, despite a strong Democratic effort. In Arkansas, Democrat Joyce Elliott was defeated by Republican Representative French Hill in the Little Rock suburbs.
One of the more interesting victors was Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, a Republican who, at just 25 years of age, will become the youngest Republican ever elected to Congress. “Cry more, lib,” Cawthorn tweeted after his victory of more than 50,000 votes. Cawthorn spoke at the Republican National Convention this past summer, gaining attention for having overcome a severe automobile accident in 2014, which had left him partially paralyzed.
Another Republican victory came in Florida, where Byron Donalds, an African-American, won with over 60 percent of the vote. Donalds had described himself as “Liberty-loving. Pro-Trump. Pro-2nd Amendment. Pro-Life. Husband & father to 3. Conservative.” He also calls himself anti-socialist.
Not surprisingly, many Democrats are quite dismissive of such conservative Black Republicans. One might recall that Biden said any Black person even thinking about voting for Trump “ain’t Black.” Representative Maxine Waters, the radical California Democrat, was even more adamant, saying she “will never, ever forgive” Blacks who voted for Trump, calling them “shameful.”
“He’s a racist,” Waters said of Trump, despite Trump’s repeated denunciations of the KKK and white supremacists.
Some have said such a divided House will lead to “gridlock,” arguing the government will be unable to do much for the next two years. We can only hope so!
