OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Republicans have secured another major election victory.
South Carolina Republicans flipped the mayorship of the state capital of Columbia.
Joe Biden won the city, which is the second-largest in the state, with 71% of the vote in the 2020 presidential election.
Daniel Rickenmann, a longtime city council member backed by Republicans, has been chosen as the mayor of South Carolina’s capital city.
The crowd here at the Daniel Rickenmann watch party is making noise as he makes his way through this crowd of supporters @WLTX pic.twitter.com/OQKuGJH3Ik
— Eleanor Tabone (@EleanorTabone) November 17, 2021
Columbia, SC has been led by Dem mayors for 30 years. @JoeBiden won this city by 30 points in 2020 and @BarackObama campaigned for the Democrat.
But last night, Republican @Rickenmann had a big win. The red wave is coming! https://t.co/F2r11Ky34v
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) November 17, 2021
BREAKING: 100% of precincts have reported and Daniel Rickenmann is the projected Columbia Mayor-Elect. https://t.co/QTjZGEORTl
— WIS News 10 (@wis10) November 17, 2021
Republicans have been winning major elections across the country recently.
The highly anticipated election earlier this month was the gubernatorial race in Virginia between Republican Glenn Youngkin and Democrat Terry McAuliffe.
Youngkin — a Republican endorsed by Donald Trump — has been declared the winner.
No Republican had won a statewide race in Virginia since 2009 and Joe Biden won the state in the 2020 presidential election.
Republican Mike Carey, a coal lobbyist endorsed by Donald Trump, defeated Democrat Allison Russo in a special election for Ohio’s 15th Congressional District on Tuesday night.
The U.S. House seat was held for a decade by Republican Steve Stivers, who resigned after voting earlier in the year to impeach Trump over the incident on January 6 at the Capitol.
NEW: Republican Mike Carey wins special election for House seat in Ohio’s 15th Congressional District, @NBCNews Decision Desk projects. https://t.co/ZRTUOl164x pic.twitter.com/djxLS4HlUE
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) November 3, 2021
Carey said he spoke with Trump Tuesday night, adding that the former president was “very happy with the votes.”
“Congratulations to Mike Carey on a fantastic victory in Ohio,” Trump said in an emailed statement. “I am very proud to have endorsed him early and strongly. He will be a great congressman!”
Joe Biden endorsed Russo, who raised more money in the district than any Democrat in history.
Republicans are also “the early favorites,” to retake control of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 midterm elections.
Cook Political Report Senior Editor David Wasserman told NBC News that Republicans are poised to retake the lower chamber for a variety of reasons.
“Based on all factors, you’d have to consider Republicans the early favorites for the House majority in 2022,” Wasserman said.
“But as we found out in 2020, surprises can happen, and it’s not a done deal,” he added. “Democrats’ best hope is that Biden’s approval rating stays above 50% and that Republicans have a tougher time turning out their voters without Trump on the ballot.”
Last month, a top House Democrat warned that the Republican Party is in a prime position to take back House in next year’s midterm elections.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Sean Patrick, who serves as a congressman from New York, says Democrats would lose their House majority if the midterms were held today.
Speaking with Politico, Tim Persico, executive director of the Maloney-led DCCC, shared data with incumbents showing that several House Democrats are at risk of losing their seats to Republican challengers.
Three-quarters of senior Capitol Hill aides think Republicans are going to win back control of the House of Representatives in the 2021 midterm elections.
Punchbowl News surveyed several senior Capitol Hill aides and reported that a whopping 73 percent think Republicans will take the speaker’s gavel from Democrat Rep. Nancy Pelosi next November.
Republicans need a net gain of 5 seats to regain the House majority in the midterms next November.
House Republicans also have history on their side as they aim to regain the chamber.
The party that controls the White House, which is currently the Democrats, on average loses roughly 25 House seats in the midterm elections.
And the once-in-a-decade redistricting process – pegged to the 2020 census – is expected to generally favor Republicans over Democrats.
