The 2022 Midterm elections are going to play a large role in the future of America. Despite Republicans’ expectancy to sweep Congress, Democrats were able to stand their ground. Now the outcome of major laws including abortion rights, as well as the 2024 elections, are going to be affected.
Midterm elections are for United States Senators and House of Representatives. Generally, the party that is not part of the executive branch will win a majority of the legislative branch, so this year it was expected that Republicans would take control of Congress.
For the Senate, it is a close tie with 51 Democrats and 49 Republicans. This was finalized in the Georgia runoff election, where Democrat Raphael Warnock beat Herschel Walker on December 6th. Luckily for the GOP, they were able to win a majority of the House, with 221 representatives and only 213 for Democrats. However, this is still not the landslide win they were expecting.
Regarding President Biden’s future, the results of the midterm shows that he could have a chance at re-election. This is despite a survey by ABC saying 56% of voters who usually vote for Democrats said they would prefer “someone else” to run in the next election. However, the oldest President in U.S. history, at 80 years old, has gotten growing criticism saying he should step down and let a younger candidate run. A similar case has taken place with 82 year old House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who is stepping down from her position and being replaced by Hakeem Jeffries, who is 30 years younger.
Former President Trump is hoping for a chance at re-election, but he is definitely going to have to fight to win. Leman Freshman Eric F. voiced his concerns about Trump. When asked about him, he said he is “concerned about how many Americans are still believing in [his] old ways.”
Nevertheless, almost all of the candidates he endorsed for the midterms did not win, and Americans (including Republicans) seem to want officials who are more reliable than Trump previously was. Tom Graves, former Republican Representative from Georgia said, “ Candidates who ran on themselves as the candidate on the issues that were important to districts did better, those that relied on other surrogates or other personalities didn’t do quite as well.”
Another important topic that will be addressed in the new Congress are abortion and LGBTQ+ rights. When asked about what they are concerned about regarding the midterms, Leman sophomore Filippa L. and freshman Eric F. both stated these are topics that concern them. Since this is such a divisive issue and Congress is split relatively close, news outlets are expecting no major abortion and LGBTQ+ laws to be passed.
Lastly, Biden’s agenda for the next two years will certainly be affected. Infrastructure and economic bills, as well as plans to investigate Trump’s taxes, may be changed or stopped by Republicans to better fit their agenda. This may cause a large amount of turmoil between the parties and interfere with decisions being made in Congress.
Soon, the U.S. will see how the results of these elections will affect the people. As seen the last couple of years, it is unknown what will happen and what could possibly alter Congress’s current position.