In addition to the presidential election, 35 new senators and a new House of Representatives were elected in the US on November 3. The election results are almost completely counted. It is already clear that the Democratic Party failed to create a second “blue wave”. The first “blue wave” was during the 2018 midterm elections, when the Democrats were able to win a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time since 2010. Prior to the by-elections, they held 193 seats in the House of Representatives, but after the election, that number rose to 235.
In the 2020 election, the party retained a majority, but failed to increase seats in the House of Representatives. They, as of this time, have gained 218 seats, which provides the majority. Democrat candidates are leading in 3 more constituencies. In case of victory the party will have a total of 221 seats.
The Republican Party has won 201 seats so far. Their candidates are leading in 12 constituencies, bringing them to a total of 213 seats. This is 14 seats more than what the party won in the by-elections. In addition, a second round will be held in one of the Louisiana counties. Two candidates from the Republican Party will take part in it.
As for the Senate, although the Republican Party had more seats to defend than the Democrats, the Democrats still failed to win a majority in the Senate. Democratic candidates were able to defeat incumbent Republican senators in just two states, Arizona and Colorado. In addition, the incumbent Democrat senator was defeated in Alabama. In the state of Maine, where Biden won the presidential election, the senator again became Republican Susan Collins. Despite the record-breaking campaign fundraising, Democrats were unable to defeat Veteran Republican senators Leeds Graham (South Carolina) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Kentucky).
As a result, the number of Democrats in the Senate increased by only one. To gain the majority they needed to add at least 3 seats.
According to the latest data, the Republican Party has 49 seats in the Senate. They will win another seat in Alaska, where the votes are not counted to the end, although the Republican candidate is leading. As a result, the Republican Party will have 50 seats in the Senate, while the Democratic Party will have 48. 51 seats are needed for the majority. The second round will be held in Georgia as none of the candidates was able to get more than 50% of the votes. A total of two senators must be elected in Georgia, as special elections were also scheduled due to the resignation of Senator Johnny Isaacson. Her role was played by Kelly Lofler. He ran in the Senate election, but came in second with 26% of the vote. Democrat Rafael Varnokia is in first place with 33%, although it is noteworthy that Lofler lost part of the Republican vote due to the fact that another candidate from the party, Doug Collins, was running with him. He got 20% and therefore could not advance to the second round.
It is expected that the Republican Party from Georgia will win at least one seat and therefore will have the 51 seats needed for the majority. The second round will be held on January 5.
If both seats are won by Democrats, both parties will have 50-50 seats in the Senate and the decisive vote will be in the hands of the vice president.
Democratic Party nominee Joe Biden has been declared the winner of the 2020 presidential election, and Kamala Harris has been announced as the vice president. Donald Trump does not concede defeat and plans to demand a recount in all states where he lost by a small margin. He speaks of election fraud and says he will appeal to the Supreme Court, where 9 out of 9 judges are conservative.
Presidential elections in the United States are not held by a majority of the votes cast in the election.
The president will be named by the election board in December. The Electoral College consists of 538 members (100 in the Senate and 435 in the House of Representatives, respectively + 3 members from the capital, Washington). Before the elections, the parties nominate the members of the election board. They should not have served in federal positions. As a rule, parties elect members on the basis of loyalty to them. The number of members is divided by state and ranges from 3 to 55 depending on the size of the state population. The number of members assigned to the state may change after the general census, which is conducted every 10 years.
Most states have a “winner-take-all” system, which means that all state representatives on the election board will be from the party whose candidate wins the support of the majority of the state’s population. There is a different system in the states of Maine and Nebraska, where members are elected not by the state but by constituency, so from these states the board may include members selected by both the Republican and Democratic parties.
While there is an oath that board members take to vote for a candidate who has won in the state, his or her violation is only punishable in some states. It is noteworthy that members who have broken their oath have never played a decisive role in the history of the US presidential election.
Joe Biden currently has 290 votes in the board, while Trump has 214. 270 votes are needed to be elected president.
In the event that the situation changes as a result of Trump’s complaints and no candidate is able to win a majority in the board, according to Article 12 of the Constitution, the President will be elected by the US House of Representatives. Congressmen vote not individually, but within the state delegation. Each state has one vote. Currently, the Democratic Party has a majority in the House of Representatives, but since one vote from each state counts, the majority is still in favor of the Republican Party at this time, as Republicans have a majority in the 26-state delegation.