Here are the main events that occurred in Politics this week:
1. Defying The Odds, The Democrats Keep Control of The US Senate
Democrats kept control of the Senate in the midterm elections, repelling Republican efforts to retake the chamber and making it harder for them to thwart President Joe Biden’s agenda. The House of Representatives elections, on the other hand, resulted in a very narrow Republican majority. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto’s shock victory in Nevada gave Democrats the 50 seats they needed to keep the Senate. Her win reflects the surprising strength of Democrats across the US this election year. Seeking reelection in an economically challenged state that has some of the highest gas prices in the nation, Cortez Masto was considered the Senate’s most vulnerable member, adding to the frustration of Republicans who were confident she could be defeated.
“We got a lot done and we’ll do a lot more for the American people,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said in response to the results. “The American people rejected — soundly rejected — the anti-democratic, authoritarian, nasty and divisive direction the MAGA Republicans wanted to take our country.” With the results in Nevada now decided, Georgia is the only state where both parties are still competing for a Senate seat. Democratic incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock faces Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a December 6 runoff. Alaska’s Senate race has advanced to ranked-choice voting, though the seat will stay in Republican hands.
2. Republicans Gain Control Of The House Of Representatives
The Republican Party have won back control of the House of Representatives, giving the creating a toehold to check President Joe Biden and Congressional Democrats despite a disappointing midterm election. Republicans are on track for one of the smallest Congressional majorities since the 2000 House of Representatives elections despite pre-election predictions that a red wave was coming. Instead, it took more than a week of vote-counting after Election Day for it to be clear the party had won the majority. And that majority could be difficult to manage for a Republican speaker next year. The decisive call came in a California race, with Congressman Mike Garcia being declared the winner in his reelection bid in the state’s 27th District over Democratic challenger Christy Smith. Redistricting in states like Florida, Tennessee, Texas, and Kentucky, open-seat victories and a surprisingly strong showing in New York State carried the Republicans back to power. But President Joe Biden’s middling approval ratings and a lackluster economy largely failed to propel Republican candidates over battle-tested Democratic members and a wider majority. In the end, only six Democratic incumbents fell.
3. Democrats Hold Key Gubernatorial Races, Increase Gound In State Government
Dispelling predictions of a red wave, Democrats seized complete control of the legislatures in Michigan and Minnesota, and held on to governorships in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, maintaining a bulwark against Republican-dominated legislatures in the latter two states. Democrats also won historic victories in Maryland, where voters elected Wes Moore as the state’s first Black governor, and Massachusetts, where they chose Maura Healey as the state’s first openly gay governor. With those two victories, Democrats increased the number of states where they control the governor’s office and both legislative chambers to 18. Republicans had unified control of 23 states heading into yesterday’s election. “Tonight, I want to say something to every little girl and every LGBTQ person out there.
4. Former President Donald Trump Announces 2024 Presidential Bid
Former President Donald Trump, aiming to become only the second commander-in-chief ever elected to two nonconsecutive terms, announced on November 15 night that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. “In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump told a crowd gathered at Mar-a-Lago, his waterfront estate in Florida, where his campaign will be headquartered. Surrounded by allies, advisers, and conservative influencers, Trump delivered a relatively subdued speech, rife with spurious and exaggerated claims about his four years in office.
Despite a historically divisive presidency and his own role in inciting an attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, President Donald Trump aimed to evoke nostalgia for his time in office, frequently contrasting his first-term accomplishments with the Biden administration’s policies and the current economic climate. Many of those perceived accomplishments, from strict immigration actions to corporate tax cuts and religious freedom initiatives, remain deeply polarizing to this day. As Trump spoke to a roomful of Republicans who expect him to face primary challengers in the coming months, he also claimed the party cannot afford to nominate “a politician or conventional candidate” if it wants to win back the White House. “This will not be my campaign, this will be our campaign all together,” Trump said.
5. Iran Protests Heat Up, With General Strikes Planned Amid Continued Government Crackdown
Protests swelled in cities across Iran on November 15 following a day of general strikes marking the anniversary of one of the deadliest uprisings in the country’s history. Sources on the ground in Iran showed protests in multiple districts across the capital, Tehran, and in other cities like Shiraz, Esfahan, Hamedan, Bushehr, Bukan, Rasht, Qom, Mashhad, and Sanandaj. Sparked by the death in police custody of 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman Mahsa Amini, the protests are now in their ninth week and represent one of the strongest public rebukes against the Islamic Republic and its leadership since the 1979 revolution. The Kurdish rights group Hengaw Human Rights Organization said two men had been killed by security forces during protests in the Kurdish town of Kamyaran in western Iran on November 14.
Footage showed security forces such as the IRGC and the Basij responding with overwhelming and brutal force against the protestors that violates all the established norms regarding human rights. One video taken from the platform of a Tehran metro station, showed commuters screaming and trying to run as they were being fired on by security forces. A barrage of shots could be heard even as trains were leaving and approaching the platform. Another video from Shiraz showed someone being shot at close range by an armed and uniformed security officer.
