Despite the Georgia runoff results, a split Congress means both Democrats and Republicans will have trouble passing legislation in January.

Warnock winning also puts Democrats in a better position in the next Senate election when the map will favor Republicans, former President Barack Obama said during a campaign stop last week.

Schumer, whose caucus held onto all incumbent seats and picked up Pennsylvania, was gleeful during a Wednesday morning press conference as he cheered the new 51-49 majority. .

“It’s going to be a lot quicker, swifter and easier,” Schumer said, noting that this year marks the first time since 1934 that each Senate incumbent of the party in power won their race.

Source: What we know about the next Senate and the balance of power now that Georgia’s runoff is over

Kevin McCarthy has indicated that he would reinstate Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar on committees

“I mean beyond unpunished, Kevin McCarthy has made a very clear statement – has stated that he intends to reward some of the most racist members of Congress that we have served in recent years,” she told The Independent.

Ms Ocasio-Cortez has been subjected to numerous death threats and verbal harassment since she won her primary election in 2018 against House Democratic Caucus chairman Joe Crowley. She has specifically become a subject of right-wing anger and vitriol. In addition, her campaign regularly spends fees as large as $5,000 a month for security consulting since members have to pay for their own security.

In addition, Representative Pramila Jayapal, chairwoman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, expressed concern.

“I’m worried about a lot of things in terms of the danger to our country, the danger to us personally. The danger to our democracy, I think it’s going to be a very difficult time,” she told The Independent.

Source: AOC says Kevin McCarthy ‘intends to reward’ some of the most racist Republicans

McCarthy fended off a late challenge from GOP Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona.

Washington — House Republicans nominated Rep. Kevin McCarthy, the current minority leader, as their candidate for speaker of the House on Tuesday, with McCarthy overcoming a conservative challenger as the party inches closer to winning control of the lower chamber.

McCarthy was tapped as the nominee in an internal meeting of the Republican conference by a secret-ballot vote of 188 to 31, multiple sources in the meeting confirmed to CBS News. The vote means the California Republican is the favorite to become speaker of a GOP-controlled House, but the path to securing the 218 votes needed to claim the gavel during a vote of the full House in January is likely to be a difficult one, since Republicans are poised to hold a razor-thin majority of seats after a weaker-than-expected performance in last week’s midterm elections.

CBS News estimates the GOP will win at least 216 seats and Democrats will control at least 211. Republican candidates are leading in several battleground races in which CBS News has not projected a winner.

McCarthy fended off an 11th-hour challenge for the nomination from Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who was involved in efforts both within Congress and at the state level to reverse the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Biggs announced his bid Monday night, telling Newsmax in an interview that “we have a new paradigm here, and I think the country wants a different direction from the House of Representatives.”

Source: Kevin McCarthy wins GOP nomination for House speaker

Former President Donald Trump announced that he will seek re-election to the presidency in 2024, setting the stage for a dramatic return to the White House after losing in 2020 to Joe Biden.

Source: Donald Trump announces 2024 re-election run for president

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto holds seat, according to projected results, giving Democrats control of the upper house.

Summary

1. The Democratic Party will retain majority control of the US Senate after winning a pivotal race in Nevada
2. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is projected to defeat Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, who was endorsed by Donald Trump
3. The result means Democrats will now have 50 Senate seats – with Republicans currently on 49
4. Georgia is still waiting on a Senate result, and will hold a run-off election on 6 December, after neither candidate won an outright majority
5. Meanwhile, Republicans appear to be inching closer to a majority in the House of Representatives

Source: US midterm elections latest: Democrats retain control of US Senate after win in Nevada – BBC News

The U.S. Republican party looks favored to win a midterm election victory, giving it back control of the House of Representatives when the next session of Congress begins in January.

Control of the US Congress hung in the balance on Wednesday after Democrats put up an unexpectedly strong fight in the midterm elections, while Republicans insisted they were on course to take back at least the House of Representatives. Republicans notched up a string of convincing victories, particularly in Florida, where governor Ron DeSantis cruised to re-election by a 20-point margin.

But while the House appeared to be within the grasp of Republicans, control of the Senate remained too close to call, as Democrats appeared to stave off the worst-case scenario that many polls had predicted.

Source: Republican victory paves road to softer dollar

Exceeding expectations, nearly 22,000 Westmoreland County voters already have cast ballots with less than two weeks to go before the Nov. 8 general election. County officials said the number of mail-in applications requested and returned by voters has continued to surpass estimates.

Source: Early voting soars in Westmoreland County

“There’s a lot of kids around here, and I just don’t think they should be having to see that on their way to school,” said one neighbor.

“It’s my property and that’s how I feel about the leadership in this country,” said Joe Korona.

Source: Scott Township man with noose outside his home defends display

“We had a lot of concern because if the voter doesn’t sign the outer envelope of the ballot, their vote will not count,” said an ACLU.

“We had a lot of concern because if the voter doesn’t sign the outer envelope of the ballot, their vote will not count,” said Sara Rose, deputy legal director.

Dave Voye, manager for Allegheny County’s Elections Division, said less than a dozen out of 180,000 mail-in ballots were missing the voter’s declaration, and that was due to a printing error.

“We were in touch with our printer and we think two envelopes got stuck together. It’s very minimal,” Voye said.

Voye said anyone in possession of an envelope without the voter’s declaration can request another ballot, but it must be mailed in time to be in the Elections Division by 8 p.m. on Election Day.

Source: Allegheny County mail-in ballots invalid without voter’s declaration