As Democrats managed to stave off Republican domination in Congress, President Joe Biden expressed happiness that his Democratic party has performed better than expected and the projected Republican "giant red wave" did not happen.
"We had an election yesterday," Biden said. "And it was a good day, I think, for democracy."
"Our democracy has been tested in recent years, but with their votes, the American people have spoken and proven once again that democracy is who we are," he said, adding that "while the press and the pundits are predicting a giant red wave, it didn’t happen."
While the Republican Party is poised for a majority in the House of Representatives with 207 seats against Democrats 188, the control of the Senate still hangs in balance. The Republicans need two more seats to gain control of the upper chamber as they are now 49 against the Democrats' 48.
Though the GOP is expected to cross the halfway mark of 218 in the House, it failed to sweep the polls. The expectation was that it would cross 250 seats. Now that the blue party has managed to cut into the Republican resurgence, this is said to be the best performance by a current president in decades during midterm polls.
Biden, who appeared confident at the press conference, said Democrats had a strong night. "While any seat lost is painful, some good Democrats didn't win there last night, Democrats had a strong night. And we lost fewer seats in the House of Representatives than in any Democratic president's first midterm election in the last 40 years, and we had the best midterm for governor since 1986. Another thing that we know is that voters spoke clearly about their concerns, about the rising costs that need to get inflation down," Biden said.
Biden said the people of the country sent a clear and unmistakable message that they want to preserve democracy and protect the right to choose in this country.
"And I especially want to thank the young people of this nation who I'm told, I haven't seen the numbers, voted historic numbers again, and just as they did two years ago," he said.
Reelection plans
The President also added that he intends to run for re-election and would likely make a final decision by early next year. Biden, who turns 80 this month, added that he is not in "any hurry" to announce a bid for reelection in 2024.
"Our intention is to run again. That’s been our intention, regardless of what the outcome of this election was," he told reporters. Still, Biden added, he’s "a great respecter of fate," calling another run "a family decision."
"I think everybody wants me to run, but we’re gonna have discussions about it," he said.
Senate control
The focus is now on three states, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia. While Georgia is heading to run-off since neither Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock nor Republican challenger Herschel Walker surpassed the 50% threshold needed to win the race, a runoff election will certainly happen on December 6.
As for Arizona and Nevada, there are an estimated 400,000-410,000 remaining ballots to count as of Wednesday night. Here, Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat and former astronaut who built a national profile as a gun safety advocate, is up against Republican Blake Masters, a Trump-backed venture capitalist. So far, Kelly is leading the race.
As for Nevada, Adam Laxalt, a former attorney general and a Trump candidate, is leading against Senator Catherine Cortez Masto. Though Laxalt is leading, the race is projected to be a toss-up.
