Last night, former President Trump won a resounding victory in which Americans rejected the last four years of deliberate cruelty and calculated neglect to return President Trump to the White House (see BREAKING: Donald Trump Projected to Win the Presidency – RedState). Winning non-consecutive terms as president has only happened once in American history Grover Cleveland returned to the White House in 1892 after a four-year hiatus. Voters not only returned Trump to the presidency, but they also appear to have given him the tools to get things done. For at least two years, Trump will have Republican majorities in the House and Senate to facilitate carry out his agenda.
Senate control
On election night, Americans made the Republican Party the majority party in the Senate.
Ohio: Bernie Moreno defeated Sherrod Brown and ended Chuck Schumer’s reign as Senate Majority Leader; see BREAKING: GOP wins control of US Senate.
Montana: Tim Sheehy retired Jon Tester, who should never have been elected; Tim Sheehy is changing Montana’s U.S. Senate seat.
These two would almost be a given if Trump did well, and they give the up-to-date Senate majority leader a one-vote buffer to work with. Tester was a delicate candidate in a very red state, and Brown was a survivor who managed to sound like what the Ohio electorate wanted in a senator.
Pennsylvania: Although the race has not yet been called, it is hard to see how the three-term incumbent can muster the votes to secure a victory. As of this writing, challenger Dave McCormick is ahead of Casey over 50,000 votes, with over 95% of votes counted. The only areas that didn’t reach the 95 percent threshold are Republican strongholds. If the voting machine couldn’t facilitate Kamala, I don’t think it can do it for Casey.
If the stars align, there could be even more opportunities.
Nevada: Sam Brown has one 1,000 votes ahead about Jacky Rosen. As much as I believe Brown would make a superlative senator, it will be hard for him to hold on with 84% of votes counted, and many of those outstanding votes come from Democratic-leaning Clark and Washoe counties.
Michigan: Mike Rogers started the night powerful, but now is 10,000 votes behind Elissa Slotkin. Over 95% of votes have been counted, but there are enough uncounted votes to give Rogers the seat. The uncounted votes are evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.
In Wisconsin, Eric Hovde is now behind Tammy Baldwin 27,000 votes, 95% of which of votes counted. It’s demanding to see how he gets his way.
Home inspection
Currently, the House of Representatives consists of 197 Republicans and 177 Democrats; a majority requires 218 votes.
With the Cook Political Report Basically, the GOP has retained all of the “likely Republican” seats, although five of them have not yet been named. This brings the GOP caucus to 205. The GOP also won the Lean Republican seats. Six of those seats have not yet been filled, but they appear to be sheltered, bringing the GOP total to 211. Of the 22 Toss Up seats, the GOP is leading in 11 races, and we have won two Leans Democrat seats . If all of these victories hold, the GOP will have 224 seats. I don’t expect 100% of the vote to hold, but I do expect at least 218 Republicans to vote for speaker in the up-to-date House. Detailed race status can be viewed can be found under this link.
The up-to-date speaker’s job won’t be straightforward, as a handful of Republicans would rather engage in social media than govern, but being in the majority is always better than being in the minority.
outlook
The GOP will control the executive branch and closely control Congress. His nominations for cabinet positions are likely to be filled quickly. This gives President Trump a unique opportunity to push through a pro-liberty and pro-business agenda and fill judicial vacancies with solid originalists if the time is not wasted.
