QMany
New member
So is Dems gaining control of the house a big deal or not ? How so ?
Is the GOP increasing their majority in the senate a big deal ? Why ?
I’m Getting mixed answers all over on those questions what do you guys think ?
+1. But to expand a little...House - yes. They will be able to provide oversight on Trump because they will assume control of all House congressional committees. The majority has a majority on committees as well, so they can subpoena and investigate things they are concerned about re: Trump, his cabinet, Congress itself or anything else in the public interest. They may not be able to pass a lot of dynamite legislation out of the House because their majority may not be as large as it would be without gerrymandering, meaning they run into the same problem the GOP had in the Senate.
Senate - Yes, but less so, IMO, since they already had the majority. They can pass more conservative, Trumpy stuff if they want but it won't get through the House if there is no bipartisan support. Honestly the rural red areas leaning more strongly into Trump and the GOP itself becoming more Trumpy are the biggest stories of the night here. A lot of the new GOP senators won by explicitly hugging Trump as much as they could. Most of the Dem moderates lost. Also, in the House, the House Freedom Caucus is going to get bigger. Things are going to get more partisan. Our rural/urban divide is getting larger.
Winning the House is HUGE, the single biggest news of the night:
- Republicans and Trump now can't pass a single bill without House Democrats allowing it. Party leaders will control what gets to the floor in the first place. No more Obamacare repeal, tax cuts for the rich, "entitlement" (SS, Medicare, Medicaid) cuts, etc.
- Like Clifford Franklin pointed out, Democrats now control all House committees. Devin Nunes, Trey Gowdy, et al will no longer be able to run interference for Trump. Adam Schiff now runs Intelligence (Russia). Elijah Cummings now runs Oversight and Government Reform (Trump, family, and Cabinet grifting). They have the subpoena power now.
- There were a lot of Trump districts that flipped (14), 6 of which were +5 Trump.
NY22 (upstate) was +16 Trump.
- OK05 (OKC area) was +13 Trump.
- NY11 (Staten Island & SW Brooklyn) was +10 Trump.
Senate:
- Short term, I don't think it is as huge deal for the GOP. Even with a slim minority, they were still able to get their Judges through. If you can plow Kavanaugh through with only 51, 54-55 doesn't make a huge difference. That will continue. I just pray RBG and/or Breyer don't die.
- Long term, it is a big deal. It makes it a lot harder for Democrats to flip the Senate in 2020.
"As of now, 20 Republican-held seats are on the ballot in 2020 — including in states like Colorado, Arizona, Maine, Iowa, North Carolina, and Georgia, where Democrats should at least have a plausible chance of winning the seat away from Republicans. However, they will also have to defend 11 seats, including in deep-red Alabama, where Sen. Doug Jones is up for his first reelection after his shocking 2017 win."
State Mansions:
- Florida was a big win for Trump, no doubt about it. His race-baiting and fear-mongering tactics seemed to have push DeSantis over the finish line, which is disheartening for his future campaigns.
- Locally, Trump & Brownback disciple Kobach got worked over in deep-red Kansas.
- Democrats flipped 6-7 governorships, including big presidential election states that Trump won (Michigan & Wisconsin).
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