Five global stories to watch as the US waits for midterm election results
A couple of hours after Election Day, the new Congress will convene. In the meantime, on the other side of the world, more than 200 million voters are deciding how their government will work and what we’ll have left to see.
After being thrown a lifeline by Republican wins in the House and Senate, the House of Representatives will have to wait until Tuesday afternoon to see whether their leadership follows through on the party’s promises that are keeping the president’s approval ratings from skyrocketing.
The Senate has been a more controversial institution. While Republicans were the majority party for the first time in 20 years, the margin in the chamber was razor thin. Some of their victories were in states that are crucial to Trump’s re-election: Arizona, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky.
But many close Democrats are worried that the Senate won’t be as friendly to progressive values. That could spell trouble for progressive activists as well as for Republicans looking to keep the president’s agenda off the bench when Congress returns after the president’s State of the Union speech.
For months now, political leaders have been saying that a Republican victory in the Senate would be bad news for the president in 2020 and also for the 2020 race against a Democratic president. For months, Trump has said that the Republicans’ Senate wins will not impact his reelection prospects.
In fact, Trump’s chances of holding the White House might be better after a Democratic win, in part because the Democratic Senate majority would increase the possibility of impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives.
And while Trump’s approval rating in the eyes of the American public is higher after his Senate and House wins, the Democrats may be more popular than he is in the aftermath of the midterms.
The question now is how the Senate will vote. Trump’s first-term agenda depends on the Senate, and the GOP, more than ever.
Trump will continue to press Senate Republicans on tax reform; his administration has been trying to push through a massive spending bill; and it’s working the administration’s will
