US President Joe Biden seemed able on Saturday November 12 to retain control of the Senate and the Republicans to deprive him of the majority in the House of Representatives. But all eyes were already on 2024 with the likely announcement on Tuesday, November 15, of Donald Trump’s candidacy for the White House.
Trump shouts election fraud
The victory announced on Friday (November 11th) by incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly in Arizona means that the Senate is currently split 49-49, with two seats remaining to be decided, in Nevada and Georgia, four days after the American mid-term elections.
It is enough for the Democrats to win one to keep control of the upper house, since they will be able to use the vote of Vice-President Kamala Harris to decide the ties, as provided for in the Constitution.
In Arizona, astronaut Mark Kelly beat Blake Masters, who had received strong support from the omnipresent Republican former president in this campaign. Stung by this setback, which adds to other failures of his foals, Donald Trump again shouted at the “election fraud” refusing to accept the verdict of the polls, as he has done since his defeat in the 2020 presidential election.
Narrow Republican victory in the House of Representatives
On the side of the House of Representatives, the Republicans seemed poised to regain the majority of seats, which will complicate the continuation of President Joe Biden’s term.
But their victory promises to be much shorter than announced. The NBC News channel projected a frail majority of five seats for the Republicans on Saturday morning with 220 elected against 215 for the Democrats. Nearly 20 polls have still not given their verdict, however, mainly in California.
“No Red Wave”
The Republicans have long believed they have a boulevard to take back the two chambers from their rivals, promising a “red wave”or even a « tsunami » which ultimately did not take place. Their disappointing results are raising agitation among their elected officials in Congress, auguring possible settling of accounts.
In a letter revealed by Politico, several Trumpist senators are asking to postpone the vote to elect their leader to the Senate, posing a challenge to the current leader, Republican tenor Mitch McConnell. “We are all disappointed that a ‘Red Wave’ has not materialized, and there are several reasons for this”they write.
A “big announcement” mardi
Once the political landscape is established in both houses of Congress, eyes will indeed be on 2024 in the United States, with the prospect of seeing former President Donald Trump announce his candidacy as early as Tuesday, November 15, according to one of his close advisers.
“President Trump will announce on Tuesday that he is running for president. And it will be a very professional, very neat announcement.”said Friday, November 11 his adviser Jason Miller on « War Room »the podcast of Steve Bannon, another close friend of Donald Trump.
Weakened
The real estate mogul had previously hinted that he might run, promising that he would do a “big announcement” – the content of which no longer really aroused suspense in recent days.
Donald Trump’s candidacy will be his third in the White House. Even if his influence on the Republican Party remains undeniable, he emerged weakened from the mid-term elections, during which many of his lieutenants disappointed.
Ron DeSantis is a potential contender
Unlike Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, triumphantly re-elected, is crowned with the image of the big winner of this election season. The victory of this new star of the hard right has consolidated his place as a potential rival of the ex-president for the Republican nomination.
This did not escape the billionaire, who chained this week spades and mockery against the one he nicknamed « Ron-la-Morale ».
And, coincidence of the calendar or not, Tuesday will also be the day of the release of the memoirs of another possible competitor of Donald Trump, his former vice-president Mike Pence.
A 2020 remake?
The 2024 election could be a remake of the 2020 election: his then opponent, current Democratic President Joe Biden, reaffirmed his « intention » to run for a second term. But he took care to postpone any final decision until next year.