Democratic enthusiasm in the home stretch of the election campaign was not just about Joe Biden's growing chances against Donald Trump.
The crossing of the desert seemed to come to an end in the Senate, masterfully held since 2014 by a Republican majority and the iron fist of the wheeler Mitch McConnell.
With 47 votes against 53 to the latter, the opposition led by Chuck Schumer and Dianne Feinstein chained the pathetic defeats: the impossibility of imposing the judge Merrick Garland, chosen by Barack Obama, on the Supreme Court in 2016, the acquittal of Donald Trump, following the impeachment proceedings against him on February 5, 2020, then the appointment of the ultra-conservative judge Amy Coney Barrett, on October 26.
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American elections: the Republicans fear not to save "their" Senate
The lean cows were over, wanted to believe the Democratic leadership.
Of the 45 seats up for grabs, including 23 Republicans and 12 Democrats, 12 Republicans and 2 Democrats were on a waiver, offering a historic opportunity for Camp Biden to kill two birds with one stone: move to the White House and benefit from a friendly Congress, which could confirm the ministers and ambassadors without striking a blow, support the government program, appoint the judges of the Supreme Court and, if necessary, carry out a presidential impeachment procedure.
Tidy sums of money began to flow in the direction of several Democratic outsiders who seemed best placed to dethrone Republican officials: Jamie Harrison in South Carolina against Lindsey Graham, Sara Gideon in Maine against Susan Collins, Cal Cunningham in North Carolina against Thom Tillis, Mark Kelly in Arizona against Martha McSally…
This hope fizzled out on election night.
Jamie Harrison lost his bet against Lindsey Graham.
More anecdotally, Republican leader Mitch McConnell allowed himself to rule out rival Amy McGrath in Kentucky, while another Democrat, Doug Jones, unsurprisingly failed in his re-election in Alabama against American football coach Tommy. Tuberville, a Donald Trump favorite.
In Iowa, Texas, Montana and Kansas, the slim Democratic hopes in
“bright red”,
rural and Republican zones, were also showered.
"My favorite senator"
Two flashes of lightning streaked the dark Democratic night: former Democratic astronaut Mark Kelly knocked down former Republican fighter pilot Martha McSally in Arizona, like former Governor John Hickenlooper in Colorado, where he dethroned Cory Gardner.
On Thursday, the ongoing vote count prevented Collins and Thillis from declaring victory, remaining under threat of a postal vote theoretically more favorable to their left-wing rivals, and admissible until November 12.
If Cunningham remained within reach of Thillis, the bet seemed more complicated for Gideon, behind in the polls against the revenge Collins.
As it stands, Democrats are slowly approaching perfect equality.
This would require two of their candidates to win their duel in Georgia: Jon Ossoff against Republican David Perdue, whom Trump calls
"my favorite senator",
and the Reverend Raphael Warnock, pastor in the same church as the late Martin Luther King, facing Kelly Loeffler.
This is the worst return on investment in the history of American politics
Lindsey Graham
But these two elections, which require a floor of 50% of the votes for the winner as in Maine, will be decided on January 5, leaving the Democrats to hope for the reconquest of the Senate just days before the ceremony of the new president, even a re-elected Trump or a 46th "POTUS" named Joe Biden, on January 20, 2021.
The future looks bleak for a possible President Biden, in the event that he faces a hostile Senate, as in Barack Obama's time, and for a Democratic Party that will have to rethink its strategy for the next election: as for Hillary Clinton in 2016, the former
Texas
“
great hope
” Beto O'Rourke, in the House of Representatives in 2018, or in these senatorial elections in 2020, failed to dislodge a entrenched and fortified Republican majority.
"You really wasted a lot of money,"
Lindsey Graham allowed to assassinate his defeated rival Jamie Harrison, who had benefited from the record sum of $ 100 million in donations.
"
This is the worst return on investment in the history of American politics."
“Today, the Kantians said 'we are not finished yet
,' said McConnell on Tuesday evening.
They expect more from the policies that have built the best economy in our country's modern history - and nothing from socialism. ”