Democrats had our much-deserved moment in the sun in the hours after news broke on Saturday of Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s election victory in Nevada. She secured her second term as the first Latina elected to the U.S. Senate, earning Democrats control of the Senate with 50 seats and Vice President Kamala Harris’ expected tie-breaking vote. The Nevada senator’s victory also alleviated the pressure on Georgia voters to again deliver the Senate majority with Sen. Raphael Warnock’s runoff election, but it cannot be overstated how crucial the state runoff still is.
"Georgia is still hugely important for dems," former White House press secretary Jen Psaki tweeted. "1. @ReverendWarnock is a massive star 2. 2024 is a harder senate map and this is a down payment. 3. It’s pretty clear an extra senate vote would have been helpful to dems over last 2 years"
RELATED STORY: U.S. Senate stays in Democratic hands
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer described the Nevada victory as proof “we believe in our democracy” despite Republican candidates spreading the “big lie” of widespread voter fraud robbing former President Donald Trump of a second term.
“There was no red wave,” Schumer said, “and the reason there wasn't a red wave is because Democrats had a blue wave of accomplishment.”
He listed reduced drug prices, gun control legislation President Joe Biden signed, and historic climate change legislation in the Inflation Reduction Act. “The other side, their candidates almost, by and large, were divisive, were throwing nasty nasty barbs at people, but never really talked about what they wanted to do for the American people,” Schumer said. “And I think the pundits and prognosticators made a mistake by going for the loud divisive voices instead of paying attention to what we did.”
Journalist Mehdi Hasan said it another way on Twitter, calling out one of the faces of divisive politics by name. "Donald Trump has now helped the Republican Party lose the Senate twice in two years," Hasan said.
Biden, who briefed reporters from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Cambodia, said on Saturday he is “incredibly pleased” though not surprised by the election turnout, which he deemed “a reflection of the quality of our candidates.”
“They’re all running on the same program,” Biden said, “wasn’t anybody who wasn’t running on what we did. They’re all sticking with it, so I feel good.”
Joyce Alene, former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, tweeted that “control of the Senate means a chance to rebuild the federal judiciary, especially SCOTUS.”
And that is only the beginning of what Democrats have to gain.
A Twitter user tracking Biden’s accomplishments explained in a thread why Democrats could use 51 Senate seats, and that explanation went beyond curtailing the effects of barely-Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema:
Right now, with a tied Senate, we govern with a power share agreement, where Republicans get an equal split with Democrats on committee membership 1/
This gives them a lot of power to mess things up, because they can do 2 things:1. With a tied vote in committee, they can force a discharge petition, which is an extra vote that takes up floor time.2. Go nuclear, and boycott committees, preventing votes from happening. 2/
Number 2 isn't theoretical. They have done it a couple of times this Congress, including to block a Fed pick. They would absolutely use it again in a major situation (such as to prevent an SC replacement for a Conservative judge). 51 Senators gives Dems majority on committees 3/
And they lose the power to do any of those things.Next up is it allows for absences.The Senate requires voting in person. This Congress, if any Senator is absent, Dems can't vote on party line stuff.This happened a lot this year, especially with COVID. 4/
Lastly, it does protect against a rogue vote. Sinema and Manchin were very good in judges this year. They supported every one of President Biden's nominees, including the ones that got passed on a party line vote.But past performance doesn't indicate future results. 5/
If Manchin decides to run again, he's going to want to be able to show some independence. He honestly would prefer 51 Senators, because then he can vote against more nominees and they still get confirmed. At 50, he's going to have to make hard choices, and I'd rather avoid it 6/
Of course, 51 matters for more than just this Congress. Senators serve for 6 years. That means that the 118th, 119th, and 120th Congresses will have the winner of this election serving. We are still paying for mistakes made in 2018 and 2020 Senate. Let's not do the same here. 7/
Victor Shi, a junior at the University of California at Los Angeles and co-host of the “iGen Politics” podcast, said in a tweet that “since World War II, the president in power has lost an average of 6 Senate seats during midterm elections.”
“Joe Biden not only didn’t lose any Senate seats, but he has a real chance of expanding the Senate based on what happens in Georgia,” Shi tweeted. “All hands are on deck in Georgia.”
Having secured a slight majority but not more than half of the vote, Warnock will once again have to defend his seat, this time against Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a runoff election on December 6. It’s an earlier deadline than one Warnock faced last January when he unseated former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, and that’s because a new law imposing voting rights restrictions also pushed the runoff deadline up.
Christopher Bouzy, founder and chief executive officer of the company Bot Sentinel, which specializes in identifying disinformation on social media, tweeted: “Three weeks before the election, pundits insisted Democrats' messaging wasn't resonating with voters, and now we know that wasn't true. If not for extreme gerrymandering in FL, and botched redistricting in NY, Democrats would've easily won the House.”
Republicans now have more ways to solidify a House majority, but Democrats still have a path to victory and have been racking up leads in states with substantial vote-by-mail totals—a testament to how much power young voters and people of color can wield.
“Dems hanging onto the Senate in this environment is one of the most remarkable political stories,” journalist and attorney Elie Mystal tweeted. “And it’s largely thanks to voters under 30, women, and black voters. Remember that when the media unleashes a *wave* of old, white, ossified men to tell you what to think.”
Here’s all the ways you can help get out the vote in Georgia, many from the comfort of your own living room.
Please donate $10—or $20, or even $100 if you're able—to help Raphael Warnock win a full six-year term!
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Nevada Senate race called for Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto in huge win for Democrats
Connect! Unite! Act! why winning the Senate matters
Holy crap, what an amazing week! Where do we even begin this week's episode of The Downballot? Well, we know exactly where: abortion. Co-hosts David Nir and David Beard recap Tuesday's extraordinary results, starting with a clear-eyed examination of the issue that animated Democrats as never before—and that pundits got so badly wrong. They also discuss candidate quality (still really important!), Democratic meddling in GOP primaries (good for democracy, actually), and "soft" Biden disapprovers (lots of them voted for Democrats).