House
As votes rolled in and close races were called in the days following the election, it became apparent that House Democrats had woefully underperformed expectations. Widely expected to flip 10-15 seats, not a single Republican incumbent lost and Republicans ended up flipping 12 seats. The next two years will be a tough run for Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with only 6 members needing to defect on any one piece of legislation. This will give leverage to moderate members who won narrowly in swing states and would like to see their ideas included in legislation offered by the speaker.
Senate
Departing Election Day, Republicans managed to hold enough seats to keep a 50-48 majority ahead of the two additional runoff election taking place in January in Georgia. Both sides are now undertaking massive voter turnout and fundraising missions with the goal of sinking hundreds of millions in the state ahead of these crucial races. Republicans could hold the senate by just winning 1 of 2, given that a 50-50 tie I t the senate would allow VP Harris to tiebreak any deadlocked vote. In the meantime, Senators still have a COVID-19 relief package they would like to get done, as well as appropriations: the government, as usual these days, is being funded by an October 1st resolution that expires December 11th.
White House
Despite a degree of confusion and competing messages throughout most of November regarding the winner of the presidential race, it now appears that most of the legal challenges filed by the Trump Campaign have been rejected and that Joe Biden has won the presidential race. Rebuffed this time around, Trump will certainly look to 2024 as an opportunity to recapture the populist energy of America’s right and run again. Certified by the states and by GSA, the Biden transition can now begin in full force. The time from now until January will be comprised of Biden selecting his cabinet, ambassadors, and releasing policy proposals.
