Democrats retake Congress in sweeping US legislative elections

Democrats regained control of the US Congress in the mid-term legislative elections, with victories in states long considered Republican strongholds. According to Fox Business coverage, the result was a sweeping defeat for Republicans in the Senate and House.

In the Senate, according to correspondent Chad Pergram, Democrats flipped seven seats and will have at least 54 senators in the caucus next year. Among the results cited are South Carolina, where Andrew Wu ousted Lindsey Graham, and Kansas, which had not elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly a century. In Texas, James Talarico became the first Democrat elected to the Senate in the state since 1998. Alaska had not yet been defined, and Abdul El-Sayed, elected in Michigan, will be the first Muslim senator in American history.

In the House, according to Pergram, Democrats will have 227 seats and probably more. The party flipped three seats in Pennsylvania, at least one in Virginia, two in Ohio and at least two in North Carolina. Republicans redrawn districts in Florida to protect their majority, but Democrats held on to two seats in the state. Pergram compared the election to the great waves of 1994 and 2010, by Republicans, and 2018, by Democrats.

Inflation and cost of living at the center of the dispute

Guest Austin Petersen, former libertarian presidential candidate, attributed the Republican defeat to the economy. In his assessment, inflation of 3.7%, rising gasoline prices and 30-year mortgages at around 7.25% weighed in: four in ten voters said they were in a worse situation than before. Presenter Cheryl Casone summarized the election as a “kitchen table” election, driven by the economy.

Petersen also cited Fox research that found young, rural and Hispanic voters were pressured by prices. He recalled that the average age of those who buy their first property in the USA is 40 years old, which he described as an economic imbalance.

What changes for the market

The presentation highlighted that the markets reacted to the result and that the "Wall Street Journal" commented on the topic in its editorial board. According to Cheryl, Democrats had said they would go after billionaires and technology companies, including data centers, especially in Texas. Greg Abbott's defeat in the state was seen as one of the biggest surprises of the night.

Petersen warned that tightening the crackdown on data centers would be a mistake, as portfolio growth in recent years has been largely driven by the financial and technology sector. In his assessment, attacking the sector and tampering with 401(k) plans and pension funds would lead to a reckoning. The commentator also defended that President Donald Trump listen to Republicans opposed to tariffs and wars, citing Senator Rand Paul and Mike Lee, and said that tariffs "appear in the box."

Another point of attention is fiscal policy: Cheryl pointed out as the biggest concern for the next two years federal spending, with the debt at US$41 trillion, and social programs that elected candidates want to reintroduce. Pergram indicated that the new Congress should expand investigations and impeachment proceedings, and Democratic Representative Ro Khanna was quoted defending subpoenas. The transcription was interrupted before the end of the debate.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.