Republicans look like winning 222 House seats compared with the Democrats’ 213, meaning they would still take majority control but with much less authority than the 40+ gains anticipated by some pollsters.
The race for the Senate is also very much in the balance, with just four seats left to declare. Georgia’s race is set for a run-off on 6 December so we may have to wait until then for the final standings.
The Democrats made a potentially crucial gain in Pennsylvania but the Republicans managed to hold out in a tight race in Wisconsin – a state won by President Biden in 2020.
That seat could swing either way and will probably determine who controls the Senate for the last two years of the Biden Administration.
Certainly the results have swing the balance of power toward the Repulicans but by not as much as was predicted.
There has been the odd notable gain for the Republicans in certain seats, for example Jen Kiggans defeating January 6 investigator Elaine Luria in Virginia’s battleground 2nd district.
But much of the picture is muddied by the redistricting that has taken place since the 2020 election. Many of the seats listed as ‘gains’ are new districts entirely or represent geographies almost unrecognisable to ones they’ve replaced.
These gains, for both parties although benefiting the Republicans overall, don’t necessarily reflect the shifting of Americans’ political preferences but the adjustment of the American political map.
