Thread: Riding Wave of Discontent, G.O.P. Takes Senate

Riding Wave of Discontent, G.O.P. Takes Senate

Election Results: Republicans Win Senate Control With at Least 7 New Seats



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Senator Mitch McConnell and his wife, Elaine Chao, celebrated his re-election with supporters during a party in Louisville, Ky. Credit Todd Heisler/The New York Times

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Resurgent Republicans took control of the Senate on Tuesday night, expanded their hold on the House, and defended some of the most closely contested governors’ races, in a repudiation of President Obama that will reorder the political map in his final years in office.
Propelled by economic dissatisfaction and anger toward the president, Republicans grabbed Democratic Senate seats in North Carolina, Colorado, Iowa, West Virginia, Arkansas, Montana and South Dakota to gain their first Senate majority since 2006. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a shrewd Republican tactician, cruised to re-election and stood poised to achieve a goal he has pursued for years — Senate majority leader.
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An election that started as trench warfare, state by state and district by district, crested into a sweeping Republican victory. Contests that were expected to be close were not, and races expected to go Democratic broke narrowly for the Republicans. The uneven character of the economic recovery added to a sense of anxiety, leaving voters in a punishing mood, particularly for Democrats in Southern states and the Mountain West, where political polarization deepened.
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The biggest surprises of the night came in North Carolina, where the Republican, Thom Tillis, came from behind to beat Senator Kay Hagan, and in Virginia. There, Senator Mark Warner, a former Democratic governor of the state, was thought to be one of the safest incumbents in his party, and instead found himself clinging to the narrowest of leads against a former Republican Party chairman, Ed Gillespie.
Those contests were measures of how difficult the terrain was for Democrats in an election where Republicans put together their strategy as a referendum on the competence of government, embodied by Mr. Obama.
House seats where Democrats had fought off Republican encroachment for years were finally toppled. Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, was easily re-elected in Wisconsin, a state that voted twice for Mr. Obama. In Florida, Gov. Rick Scott, once considered endangered, finished the night on top. And states that had seemingly been trending Democratic, like Colorado and Iowa, fell into Republican hands.
With at least a nine-seat gain and most likely more, House Republicans will have close to 245 seats, the largest Republican majority since the Truman administration.
“Barack Obama has our country in a ditch, and many of his lieutenants running for the Senate were right there with him,” said Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee. “The punishment is going to be broad, and it’s going to be pretty serious.”
The breadth of the Republican victories also reset the political landscape ahead of the 2016 presidential campaign. And it left Mr. Obama with a decision to make: Will he move toward Republicans in his final years in areas of common interest, such as tax reform and trade, or will he dig in and hope Republican overreach will give his party a lane for a comeback?
“Just because we have a two-party system doesn’t mean we have to be in perpetual conflict,” vowed Mr. McConnell, in a victory speech.
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White House officials accepted the overture and said Mr. Obama had invited the bipartisan leadership of Congress to the White House on Friday.
For Republicans, the victories piled up, winning not only Senate Democratic seats they were expected to take — Montana, West Virginia, South Dakota and Arkansas — but also in states that were supposed to be close. Representative Cory Gardner, a Republican, crushed Senator Mark Udall in Colorado. In Georgia, the Democrat Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Senator Sam Nunn, was widely expected to force David Perdue, a Republican businessman, into a runoff for the Senate seat of Saxby Chambliss, a retiring Republican. Instead, Mr. Perdue won more than half the vote to take the race outright.
Continue reading the main storySweeping Victory for Republicans in the Senate

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Supporters cheered for Joni Ernst, a Republican who was elected to the Senate, during an election night party in West Des Moines, Iowa.
Credit Eric Thayer for The New York Times


1 of 21 And for Democrats, it could get worse. Votes were still being tallied in Alaska, where Senator Mark Begich, a Democrat, was trying to hold back the wave. Senator Mary L. Landrieu of Louisiana was able to force her strongest Republican foe, Representative Bill Cassidy, into a Dec. 6 runoff. But the combined vote of the top two Republicans in the race easily eclipsed hers.
“I think it’s a message from the American people about their concern about the direction of the country, and the competency of the current administration,” said Senator Rob Portman of Ohio, vice chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “Most people have voted to end the dysfunction and to get back to legislating on issues that will help them and their families, and I think that’s something that both parties need to listen to.”
One bright spot for Democrats came in New Hampshire, where Senator Jeanne Shaheen, the Democratic incumbent, fended off Scott Brown, the former Republican senator from Massachusetts, according to projections by The Associated Press. In Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, a Democrat and political novice, easily defeated the Republican governor, Tom Corbett.
And in the panhandle of Florida, Gwen Graham, daughter of a former Democratic senator and governor, defeated Representative Steve Southerland, a Tea Party favorite.
But those high notes were swamped by the lows for the president’s party. In Arkansas, Representative Tom Cotton, a freshman Republican and an Iraq War veteran, defeated Senator Mark Pryor, despite the efforts of former President Bill Clinton.
In Colorado, Mr. Udall tried to replicate the storied ground game that helped propel his Democratic colleague, Senator Michael Bennet, to an unexpected victory in 2010. He was not even close, and drew further criticism for running a campaign that some felt was too focused on abortion rights and contraception.
And in West Virginia, Representative Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, won the Senate seat long held by Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat, to become that state’s first female senator and the first Republican elected to the Senate from West Virginia since 1956. In Iowa, Joni Ernst also made history by becoming the first woman to be elected in that state’s congressional delegation.
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Two years after handing Democrats broad victories, voters again seemed to be reaching for a way to end Washington inertia. Yet the results on Tuesday may serve only to reinforce it. Voters appeared unsure of just what they wanted, according to surveys. Among those who voted for a Democrat, only one out of eight expressed an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party. Republican voters were more conflicted; among those who voted Republican, one of four viewed the party unfavorably.
Mr. Obama is left with the prospect of finding a new path to work with Republicans, something for which he has shown little inclination, and Republicans must find a way to demonstrate they are more than the party of “no.”
Even though a record $4 billion poured into the election — from the campaigns, parties and outside groups for advertising and other candidate support — the money did little to stir enthusiasm as the campaign set a more dubious mark for its low levels of voter interest.
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Voters Around the Nation on Election Day


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/05/us...ions.html?_r=0

http://www.alipac.us/f12/mitt-romney...senate-313877/