Category Archives: US midterm elections 2022

Herschel Walker says in rambling speech he wants to be ‘werewolf, not vampire’

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Republican Senate candidate for Georgia rehashes plot of late-night movie and considers merits of both creatures

In a campaign speech on Wednesday, the Republican candidate for US Senate in Georgia, Herschel Walker, told supporters: “I don’t want to be a vampire any more. I want to be a werewolf.”

The remark was the latest controversial or outright bizarre intervention from the former football star who like other candidates endorsed by Donald Trump struggled to overcome his Democratic opponent in the midterm elections.

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Karen Bass becomes the first female mayor of Los Angeles

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The Democrat takes over as the second Black mayor in LA’s history, beating a rival who spent over $80m of his own money on the race

The congresswoman Karen Bass was elected mayor of Los Angeles, defeating billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso and becoming the first woman to run the second-largest city in the US.

The Democrat, who has served as a US representative for more than a decade, had amassed an insurmountable lead of nearly 47,000 votes, with 70% of the votes counted, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday, nearly one one week after the election. Caruso had a slight lead in the first counts after the polls closed, but Bass soon surpassed him and steadily increased her lead as ballots were counted.

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Republicans scrape back control of US House after underwhelming midterms

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The slim majority effectively hands great power to every member of the party, possibly stymying any legislation

Republicans have won back control of the House of Representatives scraping a victory from a midterms election that many had expected to be a red wave of wins but which instead turned into more of a trickle.

Nevertheless, the party finally won its crucial 218th seat in the lower chamber of Congress, wresting away control from the Democrats and setting the stage for a showdown with Joe Biden in the next two years of his presidency.

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Same-sex marriage bill clears key Senate hurdle as Republicans on brink of House majority – as it happened

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Mike Pence was once Donald Trump’s sidekick in the White House, but in an appearance on Fox News today, he made clear he doesn’t think much of the former president’s latest attempt to win office:

This isn’t exactly a new position for the former vice-president. The two fell out over Pence’s refusal to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden’s election win, and he has since joined the apparently growing ranks of Republicans casting doubt on Trump’s ability to continue leading the party.

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Donald Trump announces 2024 run for president nearly two years after inspiring deadly Capitol riot

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Twice-impeached ex-president makes expected election announcement despite shaky midterms and surge from rival Ron DeSantis

Donald Trump on Tuesday night announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, likely sparking another period of tumult in US politics and especially his own political party.

“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said from ballroom of his private Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, where he stood on a stage crowded with American flags and Make America Great Again banners.

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Murdoch press turns on Donald Trump in favour of ‘DeFuture’ Ron DeSantis

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Rightwing media empire looks for new Republican protege after poor showing in midterm elections

Rupert Murdoch has reportedly warned Donald Trump his media empire will not back any attempt to return to the White House, as former supporters turn to the youthful Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

After the Republican party’s disappointing performance in the US midterm elections, in particular the poor showing by candidates backed by Trump, Murdoch’s rightwing media empire appears to be seeking a clean break from the former president’s damaged reputation and perceived waning political power.

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Midterm elections 2022: Republicans edge towards slim House majority as last results trickle in – live

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Democrats’ slim hopes of holding on to lower chamber appear to be ebbing away as Donald Trump expected to announce 2024 run

The Guardian’s Hugo Lowell has more on the tensions within the Republican party over Donald Trump’s imminent announcement of a new campaign for the White House:

Donald Trump is expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday night as planned, according to multiple sources close to the former US president, inserting himself into the center of national politics as he attempts to box out potential rivals seeking the Republican nomination.

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Trump v DeSantis: Republicans split over 2024 run and predict ‘blood on the floor’

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County leaders say they fear ex-president is even more divisive than he was two years ago and is therefore unelectable

Terri Burl was an early member of Women for Trump. As chair of her local Republican party branch in northern Wisconsin, she twice campaigned vigorously for his election in the key swing state. By the time Trump left office, Burl rated him the greatest president since Ronald Reagan. Maybe even better.

But now Burl has had enough.

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US midterms 2022: Democrats’ hopes of keeping House fade as counting continues – live

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Democrats are behind in several districts needed to secure control of Congress’ lower chamber for another two years

The Senate will this week vote on a bill to codify same-sex marriage rights, Semafor reports.

Same-sex marriage rights are currently established nationwide by a supreme court ruling, but Democrats are trying to pass a law protecting the rights after rightwing justice Clarence Thomas in June mulled overturning the ruling.

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Trump for 2024 would be ‘bad mistake’, Republican says as blame game deepens

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Alabama congressman Mo Brooks, a once-zealous Trump ally, comments after party fails to retake Congress in midterms

Alabama congressman and once-zealous Trump supporter, Mo Brooks, has a remarkable new stance on the political future of his former hero. “It would be a bad mistake for the Republicans to have Donald Trump as their nominee in 2024,” he said.

The stark judgment from Brooks was indicative of the deepening and brutal blame game among Republicans which continued on Monday, nearly a week after the party failed to retake Congress in the midterm elections and a day before Trump’s expected announcement of a new presidential campaign.

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US midterm elections: Democrats retain control of Senate as House race still undecided – as it happened

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Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer hail achievement after Nevada victory, while Georgia Senate heads to runoff

Analysts say victory by Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada, which secured her party’s control of the Senate for two more years, will be of massive importance to Joe Biden’s plans for filling judicial vacancies.

Retaining the majority in the chamber gives the president the opportunity to keep getting his picks confirmed, something for which the incumbent senator was a key ally even before the midterms.

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Democrats celebrate retaining control of Senate as Republicans take stock

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House control still undecided as Republicans lead and attention pivots to Florida, where Trump is expected to announce 2024 run

As the balance of power in the US House of Representatives remained unresolved on Sunday, Democrats are celebrating the projection that they won control of the Senate, marking a significant victory for Joe Biden as Republicans backed by his presidential predecessor Donald Trump underperformed in key battleground states.

While senior Democrats remained guarded Sunday about the chances of keeping control of both chambers of Congress, House speaker Nancy Pelosi hailed the party’s performance in the midterms following months of projections indicating heavy losses.

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Democrat Cisco Aguilar defeats election denier in Nevada secretary of state race

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Victory over Republican Jim Marchant for state’s top elections post is significant win against efforts to sow doubt in US elections

Cisco Aguilar, a Democrat, was elected Nevada’s top election official, beating Jim Marchant, a Republican who is linked to the QAnon sought to spread misinformation about the results of the 2020 race.

His victory is a significant win against efforts to sow doubt in US elections, a growing force in the Republican party.

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‘It’s time to move on’: have the US midterms finally loosened Trump’s grip on the Republican party?

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After the party came up short in another election, Ron DeSantis may be poised to become its new leader

Sitting at the head table in a white and gold ballroom, beneath glistening chandeliers and an ornately corniced ceiling, Donald Trump looked sullen as midterm election results flashed up on a giant TV screen.

Across Florida, 200 miles from his opulent Mar-a-Lago estate, the mood was quite different. In Tampa, Governor Ron DeSantis was celebrating his landslide re-election by repurposing lines from Winston Churchill.

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Catherine Cortez Masto wins Nevada Senate race to hold Democrat seat

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The race was among the tightest in the country and saw record spending with the incumbent senator nearly beaten

Senator Catherine Cortez Masto managed to hang on to her seat in a close race that nearly saw her beaten by her Republican adversary, with the result leaving control of the US Senate in the hands of Democrats.

After Democratic senator Mark Kelly’s victory in Arizona on Friday, the party now holds a 50-49 edge in the Senate. The Democratic party will retain control of the chamber, no matter how next month’s Georgia runoff plays out, by virtue of vice-president Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote.

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Democrats retain control of Senate after crucial victory in Nevada

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Win takes Democrats to key number of 50 seats in Senate, in blow to Republicans who hoped for ‘red wave’

Democrats have kept control of the Senate after the crucial race in Nevada was announced in their favor, cementing a midterms election performance for the party that widely beat expectations.

Democratic US senator Catherine Cortez Masto has now beaten Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general who was endorsed by former president Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press.

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US midterm elections 2022: focus on Nevada after Democrat Mark Kelly wins key Senate seat – live

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Power of Senate chamber remains at 49-49 as eyes on race between Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and Adam Laxalt

Mark Kelly, whose win in his Senate race in Arizona moved Democrats to within one seat of retaining control of the chamber, has slammed election deniers and praised his late predecessor, Republican John McCain, in a victory speech in Phoenix.

Kelly was speaking to jubilant supporters on Saturday morning, with his wife Gabby Giffords, a former Democratic congresswoman who was shot and badly injured in an attempted assassination 11 years ago, at his side.

After a long election it can be tempting to remain focused on the things that divide us, but we’ve seen the consequences that come when leaders refuse to accept the truth and focus more on conspiracies of the past than solving the challenges that we face today.

And for the past two years, as we face these challenges, not a day has gone by where I have not remembered that I am sitting in the Senate seat [of] Senator John McCain.

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US midterms 2022: Democrats’ Senate hopes grow as vote count edges forward – live

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Democrat Mark Kelly appears close to re-election in Arizona, with Nevada still up in the air and Georgia going to a runoff vote

All eyes are on media results trackers as Arizona and Nevada’s Senate races inch closer to official results and news on control of the House looms.

So a quick note about Alaska…

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North Carolina sheriff who quit after racist remarks gets re-elected within weeks

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Jody Greene resigned on 24 October after local prosecutors filed petition to remove him

A North Carolina sheriff who resigned in late October following revelations he made racist remarks about Black employees will get his job back after voters re-elected him on Tuesday.

Jody Greene stepped down as sheriff of Columbus county on 24 October, after the local district attorney filed a petition to remove him over “highly inappropriate and racially charged statements” made about Black employees in 2019.

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‘Ron DeSanctimonious’: angry Trump lashes out at Republican rival

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Former president, who is still expected to announce candidacy, posts diatribe against possible White House contender and others

Donald Trump has lashed out at other high-profile Republicans after the failure of the predicted “red wave” in the US midterm elections, which has chilled enthusiasm for his promotion of extremist candidates and a possible new run at the White House.

At Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night, as Democrats had a better election than expected, the former US president was seen to be in a mood ranging from subdued to exasperated, but later in the week he became angry, attacking fellow Republicans including two popular governors.

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