OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
If the midterm elections were about the economy, inflation, high gas prices, and a chaotic southwestern border, then Americans are likely to get more of the same.
That’s according to New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, who will retain his majority leader status after his party eked out a victory in Nevada over the weekend. Schumer said on Sunday that the results of the midterms were “vindication” for the Democrat-controlled Congress’ agenda, along with that of President Joe Biden, and as such, he plans to stay the course.
“With the races now called in Arizona and Nevada, Democrats will have a majority again in the Senate. And I will be the majority leader,” Schumer said, per Fox News Digital. “This election is a victory, a victory and a vindication for Democrats, our agenda, and for the America and for the American people.”
He went on to credit his party’s “terrific candidates,” “our agenda and our accomplishments,” and the “American people who rejected the anti-democratic, extremist MAGA Republicans” in helping keep the upper chamber in Democratic hands.
“Our candidates Catherine Cortez Masto, Mark Kelly, Maggie Hassan and John Fetterman, and Raphael Warnock are just fine human beings who really care about people who have the understanding of how to get things done. And those who have been in the Senate have already accomplished great things,” Schumer said, adding that voters voters “believed in what we got done, and it stood in contrast to the other party.”
Polls ahead of last week’s midterm elections claimed that Americans were most concerned about the higher cost of living and so-called “kitchen table” issues and that Republicans polled better on them — but if the election results are any indication, a majority of voters did not seem to blame Democrats or, at a minimum, hold them responsible, as GOP pundits expected.
Following Tuesday’s elections, President Biden said he would do “nothing” differently over the next two years of his term.
For his part, Schumer ticked off several things, noting that “we got a whole lot of things done” over the past two years. And he claimed that Americans “not happy with Republican leaders who condoned and even supported this nasty, poisonous rhetoric.”
“I’m making a plea to my Republican colleagues. We can disagree on so many issues. That’s fair. But let’s not have this kind of divisive negativity. Let’s not have the condemnation of viciousness and even violence against poll workers, against so many others. Let us try to come together,” Schumer, who himself has been accused of being dangerously divisive, added.
As for Republicans, the party is still trying to figure out what happened in a midterm election cycle that historically favors the party not in the White House.
That said, others are offering that a so-called “red wave” was never going to happen, including Fox News host Mark Levin.
During the opening monologue on his show, “Life, Liberty & Levin,” he told viewers that the expected Republican gains were “mathematically impossible” and never indicated a “red wave,” despite polling and predictions from many that claimed Democrats were posed to underperform.
“I noticed that many of the same people who were wrong about a red wave are now telling us what to think about a non-red wave. The experts, the consultants, the ruling class, the media, and the politicians. We need to think for ourselves, enough of the static. I said before the election, and I said repeatedly here and on the radio: Forget about the red wave. Forget about a red tsunami. Forget about Armageddon and vote,” Levin began.
In the Senate, Republicans had to defend 20 of the 34 seats up for re-election. To win the majority, Republicans would have had to “tap into” the 14 Democrat incumbent seats, the host explained.
“That was a tall hill to climb. And this is one of the reasons I wasn’t on this red-wave bandwagon so fast,” he said. “I needed to think about it. 2024. This is the key. The next election cycle, 33 seats are up. Now, listen to this. Two-thirds of them are Democrat seats. So the Democrats have to defend 23 Senate seats. The Republicans have to defend only ten.”
