Democrats Retain Control of the Senate in Tight Midterm Race

Democrats have narrowly managed to maintain control of the Senate following a tight midterm race. On Saturday Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada managed to win her campaign for reelection---which was challenged by Republican Adam Laxalt---securing 50 seats and therefore an effective majority for the party.

On Saturday the United States Democratic Party was able to keep control of the Senate, defeating Republicans in the midterm elections. The win is not only surprising given the challenges the party faced among voters such as inflation, fearful perceptions of rising crime, and the threat of an economic recession, but because historically, the party in power almost always loses control in Congress during midterm elections.

"Thank you, Nevada!" Cortez Masto, 58, said in a tweet Saturday evening after its two most populous counties, Clark and Washoe, finished counting mail-in ballots.

Cortez Masto's reelection win was by a slim margin. She won by 487,829 votes, compared to Laxalt, a promoter of former President Donald Trump's "big lie" concept, who won 481,273 votes. Democrats targeted Laxalt's false claim that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen", hit his pro-life stance and argued that he would fight for extreme anti-abortion policies if elected, and accused him of having personal investments in oil and drug companies.

While the race in Georgia between Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker will not be decided until December 6, the results will not effect Democrats' control of the chamber as Vice President Kamala Harris will be tasked with making the tiebreaking vote.

But while Democrats have technically won the Senate, the House midterm elections are still too close to call. Near midnight on Saturday, the results showed Democrats holding just 216 seats compared to Republicans who were holding 219 seats with at least 19 seats flipping red, and just 8 seats flipping blue.

Earlier, it was reported that if neither the Republican nor the Democratic party wins both Arizona and Nevada, control of the Senate will come down to the runoff in Georgia on December 6.

Now that the Democrats appear to have secured victory both in Nevada and Arizona, they have 50 Senate seats and hold their majority. The runoff in Georgia on December 6 will determine the margin that the Democrats have in the chamber (if the Republicans win, Vice President Kamala Harris will have the tie-breaking vote in the Senate).