Senate election outcomes: Democrats maintain their Senate majority in 2022

Democrats will keep a slim majority within the Senate for no less than the following two years, based on the outcomes from this week’s elections.

Exactly what number of seats Democrats finally will maintain relies on the outcomes of the Georgia runoff elections, set for December 6. But with Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s win in Nevada, Democrats now maintain 50 seats. That means, on the very least, the steadiness of energy will stay the identical as it’s now, with Vice President Kamala Harris serving as a tie-breaker. Should the celebration prevail in Georgia, they’ll have ended the midterms with a internet acquire of 1 seat.

“This election is a victory; a victory and a vindication for Democrats, our agenda, and for America and the American people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer stated in a victory speech in New York Saturday night. “There are three things that helped [Democrats] secure the majority: One, our terrific candidates; two, our agenda and our accomplishments; and three, the American people rejected the anti-democratic, extremist, MAGA Republicans.”

Democrats’ wins within the higher chamber come as Republicans seem poised to retake the House, a scenario that will arrange a cut up Congress, and sure see standoffs over must-pass payments like funding the federal government and growing the debt ceiling. Should Democrats management one chamber whereas Republicans management the opposite, the chance of extra bold laws passing is exceedingly slim. There is a really slim path for Democratic victory within the House, however even when the celebration retains its majority there, having tiny margins in each chambers would in all probability mood their coverage ambitions.

No matter what occurs within the House, Democrats’ Senate majority preserves the celebration’s pivotal capability to proceed confirming judges and govt nominees, together with any theoretical decide for the Supreme Court. That’s a vastly important energy — which might have implications for many years — regardless of the constraints lawmakers will possible face in the case of laws.

What can Democrats do with their Senate majority?

If the GOP wins the House, as appears possible, the principle factor Democrats can proceed to give attention to is confirming judicial nominees, roles which are particularly vital for the celebration to fill after Republicans sought to stack the courts of their favor through the Trump administration.

“The main difference between a split Congress and one controlled by Republicans completely would be Biden’s ability to fill judicial and other vacancies,” says Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball on the University of Virginia.

According to Demand Justice, a progressive advocacy group targeted on the courts, there are 118 federal judicial vacancies that also have to be crammed, together with 62 that don’t but have a nomination. Over the following two years, Democrats could make vital progress on these vacancies: In the primary two years of President Joe Biden’s administration, they’ve already confirmed 84 judges in whole, together with Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Biden’s nominees have included extra girls, extra folks of coloration, and extra public defenders than his predecessors, a development that Democrats might proceed within the new time period.

And that’s not the one profit: Keeping the Senate majority additionally signifies that Democrats would nonetheless set their very own flooring agenda and be capable of reject payments authorized by a GOP-led House. Democrats may have extra leverage on points like authorities funding, for instance, because the Senate will be capable of craft its personal model of those payments. Plus, upper-chamber leaders might be certain that hearings and committee time aren’t used on investigations of Biden and different members of his administration, a key prerogative of a Republican-controlled House.

Depending on the investigations a GOP-controlled House decides to place forth, Senate Democrats might additionally attempt to keep away from any impeachment pushes that come out of the decrease chamber. “The House could go ahead and vote to impeach, but there is some ambiguity about whether or not the Senate is compelled to hold a trial,” stated George Washington University political science professor Sarah Binder.

Should Democrats maintain the House — a state of affairs that’s more and more unlikely, however not inconceivable — their slim majorities in each chambers would in all probability pressure them to move most laws by way of reconciliation (except the celebration determined to finish the filibuster, one thing many Democratic senators have been against prior to now). Targets for reconciliation might embrace enhancements to the Affordable Care Act, new local weather rules, in addition to little one care, instructional, and tax insurance policies that didn’t make it into Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act.

In common, a Democratic Senate majority signifies that even when they will’t move main laws ought to Republicans have management of the House, they will proceed to make use of the Senate for vital nominations, and for countering makes an attempt by the House to extend scrutiny on the Biden administration and pressure spending fights over routine payments.

Update, November 12, 10:25 pm ET: This story has been up to date to incorporate feedback from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.