Americans were still waiting for the results of the legislative elections this Thursday to find out which party controls Congress, but above all they are focused on the 2024 presidential elections, and they wonder if there will be a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
With 209 seats so far, Republicans appear to be closing in on a slim majority in the 435-seat House of Representatives, but control of the Senate may be decided in an early December runoff in the southern state of Georgia.
Biden on Thursday celebrated what he sees as a success for his Democratic Party, which has managed to stem a landslide victory by Republicans, in a stormy economic climate.
“For months and months, you all heard from the press and the pundits that the Democrats are facing disaster … a giant red wave,” he said. “Friends, that did not happen.”
“American public opinion has made it clear: They expect Republicans to work with me,” he said.
This was summed up on Wednesday by Biden, who turns 80 this month and is already the oldest president in the United States.
He repeated that he intends to run for a second term in 2024, despite calls from some party members to hand over the reins to a new generation.
He will decide “early next year,” he said.
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A monumental defeat would have raised questions about whether Biden should run for a second term.
But he did better than his two Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, who flunked their first midterms.
Trump, 76, promised a “big announcement” in Florida on Tuesday that is expected to launch his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
He appears to be in a hurry, in part because it would avoid potential charges for taking secret White House documents, for his efforts to nullify the 2020 election, and for his alleged role in the attack on Capitol Hill by his supporters on January 6 of last year. . He may also be intent on preempting his potential main Republican rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was one of the big winners in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
“(Trump’s) intention is to consolidate his support early and crowd out other potential candidates,” said Jon Rogowski, a political science professor at the University of Chicago.
DeSantis, 44, a Harvard- and Yale-trained lawyer, scored a nearly 20-point victory over his Democratic opponent in the race for Florida governor and claimed a string of Republican victories in other races in the state.
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Rupert Murdoch.
Trump may have lost the backing of conservative billionaire Rupert Murdoch’s powerful media empire.
The Wall Street Journal, the flagship of Murdoch’s News Corp, declared in an editorial Thursday that “Trump is the biggest loser in the Republican Party.” Instead they see DeSantis as embodying the future.
Rum De-prudish.
Trump nicknamed DeSantis, a former ally of his, “Ron De-Prig” and disparaged his election victory.