KEYBOARD WARRIOR
Biden breaks silence after emergence of Ron DeSantis as 2024 contender while Georgia senate race heads to runoff
PRESIDENT Joe Biden, who remained quiet on election night, has broken his silence after the midterm results did not deliver the "red wave" many polls predicted.
As results continued to pour in on Wednesday, with many races still to be called, Biden celebrated results that were much better for Democrats than expected.
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"Democracy doesn’t happen by accident. We have to defend, strengthen, and renew it," the president on Wednesday.
"I'll have more to say this afternoon, but thanks to the poll workers and officials that worked into the night to safeguard our sacred right to vote. And the millions who made their voices heard."
Later on Wednesday the president spoke with reporters at the White House, and said he intends to decide on whether he will run for re-election early next year.
Florida was the only state where the expected red wave did materialize, with governor Ron DeSantis and senator Marco Rubio retaining their seats and seeing huge gains, even flipping the former democratic stronghold of Miami-Dade.
As DeSantis addressed a crowd after winning re-election, his supporters chanted "two more years," a likely nod to the looming prospect he'll run for president in 2024.
Another big GOP win went to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp who faced off against popular Democrat Stacey Abrams, who conceded on Wednesday.
However, the senate race between Democratic senator Raphael Wornick and former NFL star Herschel Walker will go to a run-off election on December 6.
In New York, Democratic governor Kathy Hochul kept her seat, but the GOP had a good showing, as Rep Lee Zeldin was not far behind in a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by two to one.lemme
Meanwhile, Republican leader Kevin McCarthy remained confident that the GOP would take back the majority in the House.
The House Minority leader addressed supporters shortly before 2 am on Wednesday, vowing that Republicans would have the majority later in the day.
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“When you wake up tomorrow, we will be in the majority and Nancy Pelosi will be in the minority,” the California Republican said at a "Take Back the House" victory party.
But Several Republicans in Congress have admitted that the party did not take home as many seats as they anticipated.
"Definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told Tuesday evening.
Sen. Ted Cruz - who the "red wave" would be a "red tsunami" on Election Day - agreed.
"It hasn't been as big of a wave as I'd hoped it would be. We've had some close races go the other way so far," the Texas Republican said according to the .
Outgoing Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois also agreed , "The red wave is not happening. Lots of wasted money by McCarthy. He cannot be a happy man tonight."
Still, many Republicans were confident House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who held onto her California seat, will be removed from her top seat. On Wednesday the Speaker reportedly flew to Egypt for the United Nations Climate Change before the country knew whether she would remain the leader of the House.
Several races remained too close to call as of early Wednesday morning.
However, one key Democrat win was seen in Pennsylvania after a nail-bitingly close race between the state's Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Trump-backed celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz who were both seeking a sought-after seat in the chamber.
Several outlets called the race in Fetterman's favor and the Democrat declared victory early Wednesday.
In another major victory for Republicans, Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance secured his win against Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan for Ohio's Senate seat, projected.
Meanwhile, Trump's former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders beat Democrat Chris Jones to become the governor of Arkansas.
In another sizable victory, Texas Governor Greg Abbot defeated challenger, and former candidate for Senator in 2018 and 2020 presidential hopeful, Beto O'Rourke, reported.
Senator Tim Scott, who is the only Black Republican seeking a seat in the upper chamber, defeated his Democratic opponent.
Many Democrats also saw resounding wins on Tuesday.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez managed to secure her re-election, beating Tina Forte for New York's 14th District.
And in Virginia's District 7, Abigail Spanberger eked out a victory over Republican hopeful Yesli Vega by a slim margin of 10,000 votes.
In the tightly contested New Hampshire Senate race, Maggie Hassan bested Republican Don Bolduc, projected.
Election Day started out with early voting results showing that Republican Congressman James Moylan had secured the first GOP victory in Guam since 1993, sparking momentum for the party expected to take control of the House and Senate, according to some projections.
Moylan won Guam's delegate race by 1,648 votes at about 4am Wednesday local time, earning 52.19 percent of the U.S. territory's votes, the reported.
The position is non-voting, but the symbolic win had been an early glimpse of the night's Republican victories.
Republicans had been expected to gain a majority in both the House and the Senate as more than 120milllion voters were anticipated to cast ballots, according to a previous analysis by .
The outlet had predicted the GOP will earn a 53-47 majority in the Senate after Democrats were in power for two years - but the races in states like New Hampshire, Georgia, and Pennsylvania were extremely tight.
In Congress, Republicans were expected to regain power by winning at least 227 seats, according to the projection.
Polls started to close on the East Coast at 6pm, and results were announced throughout the night.
President Joe Biden spoke to Democratic leaders throughout the day with no public events on his schedule, the White House announced.
However, this isn't abnormal for presidents as Trump also kept a low profile during midterms, only leaving the White House to attend a private election results watch party, the previously reported.
Republicans could use a majority in either chamber to bring Biden's agenda to a halt and launch potentially politically damaging investigations into Biden's administration and family.
They claim the public is tired of his policies amid rising inflation and concerns about crime.
Biden, on his part, opted to focus on his party's strengths instead of weaknesses by visiting strongholds during the campaign trail.
During his last campaign stop, the president appeared to slur his words as he was accused of patronizing the crowd at Bowie State University.
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he opened his speech at the historically black university by telling them they were just as "smart"; and "just as bright".
"You’re just as good as any college in America," he said.
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