US Midterm vote disaster for Obama
Kunal Wagle reports as Republicans are voted into control of the Senate
On Tuesday night the Republicans took a majority in the Senate in the mid-term elections in the United States. This, along with their strengthening majority in the House of Representatives, means that the Republican party now has control over both houses for the first time since 2006. The results will come as a hammer blow to Barack Obama, who now faces an uphill battle to pass any legislation, including the budget, through Capitol Hill.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said the result was a vote against “a government people can no longer trust”. Mr McConnell, who won a close (and key) race in Kentucky over Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, will now be the Senate majority leader, which gives him control over the legislative agenda of the chamber.
Speaking in his victory speech, Mr McConnell said: “I don’t expect the President to wake up tomorrow and view the world any differently than he did when he woke up this morning. He knows I won’t either.
“But we do have an obligation to work together on issues where we can agree.”
In a concession speech, current Majority Leader Harry Reid said that “the message from voters is clear - they want us to work together. I look forward to working with Senator McConnell to get things done for the middle class.”
The North America editor for the BBC, Jon Sopel, said in his analysis of the elections that “Barack Obama didn’t exactly become history last night, but he may have just stopped being the man who sets the political weather.” He also added that “The Republicans won. And won big. If this were basketball, then we’d be saying they had a slam dunk of a night.”
Other developments in the election included the first black Republican female in the House of Representatives in Mia Love. George P Bush, grandson of George H W Bush and nephew of George W Bush (both former Presidents), was elected the Texas Land Commissioner.
Michael Grimm, who is currently under federal indictment for fraud, was re-elected to the House of Representatives.
Voters in Oregon and Washington DC voted to legalise cannabis. Florida rejected a proposal for medical marijuana, whilst South Dakota, Arkansas, and Nebraska approved increases in the minimum wage.
Mr Obama now faces a tough final two years in power, as he tries to deal with the worst midterm result for an incumbent two-term President since the Second World War.
He was also sidelined during campaigning, as Democrats decided that Hillary and Bill Clinton would be more suitable to plead the party’s case to the nation.
