Republicans last night looked close to gaining control of the US House of Representatives. Although the slow vote count seemed far from over, in the absence of counting millions of votes largely cast by mail, the Conservatives already had 211 of the 218 seats they would need to achieve a majority in that 435-seat chamber. And they began to fight among themselves for the presidency of the institution despite the fact that, as some of them pointed out and all the media warned, it was still too early to claim victory and much more to talk about charges.
The leader of the current minority of the House, Kevin McCarthy, rushed on Election Day night, Tuesday, to proclaim a great Republican victory in the House. “When you wake up tomorrow, we will be on the majority side and Nancy Pelosi on the minority side,” he said euphorically. The Californian parliamentarian was referring to the current Democratic president of the House, whose husband, Paul Pelosi, suffered a hammer attack by David DePape, a supporter of Trumpist conspiracy theories, in the middle of the campaign. In his appearance, the Republican leader reaffirmed his aspiration to occupy Pelosi's position, which he has longed for years.
But McCarthy's morning forecasts were not fulfilled. On the other hand, it was soon seen that the result of the mid-term legislative elections would be very far from the "red tide" predicted by the leaders of the party of that color, with Donald Trump at the helm.
Between Thursday and Friday, more and more Republican parliamentarians were rebelling against the hasty proclamation of McCarthy as the next leader of the House. And they began to press for the postponement of the meeting that the group planned to hold next week to elect its president for the next term, which, if the victory of the party is confirmed, would also be the victory of the body and would become the third authority of the nation.
“Look, they told us we were going to have an incredible wave of votes,” said Rep. Andy Biggs, leader of the ultra-conservative and Trumpist House Freedom Caucus. "If that had been the case, with a margin of 20, 30 or 40 seats," he continued, "you would say, 'Okay, Kevin is the Republican nominee for president.' But I think with the way things are, we need to have a serious discussion." Biggs also complained that McCarthy rejects the idea of launching an impeachment or political trial against President Joe Biden.
Texas representative Chip Roy expressed himself in similar terms, stressing that "nobody currently has 218 votes" to win the presidency that McCarthy aspires to, and called for a detailed list of his plans, which should include numerous investigations into Biden's decisions. and your team.
The internal fight on the Republican side is served.
In the Senate, where both parties were within two seats of a majority yesterday, Democrats held more hope of retaining control. They hoped to win at least two of the three seats still in contention: those of Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, the last doomed to a second round as neither of the two candidates – Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker – reached the 50% needed to win in the first.
