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Republicans sweep House, Senate as Hamilton watches

By Kevin Welsh ’15

In case you are part of the majority of Americans who did not vote this week, this Tuesday was Election Day. As widely predicted, Democrats lost their majority in the Senate, giving Republicans control of both houses. This is a major blow to both the Democrats nationally, and a major repudiation of President Obama as he enters the last two years of his presidency.

While the Republicans were consistently assured to maintain their majority in the House of Representatives, there was some fleeting hope for a Democratic majority Senate going into the evening. Pollsters put the odds of Democrats holding the Senate at about 25 percent, all hinging on a tight handful of races across the country.

Republicans needed to gain six seats to take control of the Senate. Coming into the evening, it was predicted that four states, Montana, South Dakota, Arkansas, and West Virginia would safely flip from blue to red, giving Republicans 49 seats, a mere two away from a majority.

The remaining possible pickups for the GOP were spread amongst Colorado, Iowa, Georgia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, Louisiana and Kansas. Polling data going into most of these races looked close, but with a need for only two states to flip, the odds were always grim for the Dems.

The Democrat’s hope was not immediately extinguished though. While Colorado’s red win was decided fairly early on, close races in Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia, Kansas and New Hampshire held on throughout the night. New Hampshire was called early on for incumbent Democrat Jeanne Shaheen over Republican Scott Brown shortly after polls closed, yet that would be some of the last good news for the left.

Weak democratic turnout in Atlanta easily handed Georgia to the Republicans, and Iowa State Senator Joni Ernst held onto the narrow lead she had since earlier this fall and took another seat for the Republicans. Those two seats alone ensured the Republican majority in the Senate, but they would continue to cushion their lead by taking North Carolina and Kansas as well.

Another interesting Senate race came out of Louisiana where there were actually two Republicans and one Democrat on the ticket. Candidates still need to win a majority of votes though, and since no candidate did manage to garner 51 there will, in fact, be a run-off election on December 6th.

Virginia turned out to be one of the most surprising races of the night. While most analysts were confident that Democrat Mark Warner would win re-election easily this year, the night quickly became chaotic when exit polls showed another possible pick up for the Republicans. After polls closed the Warner was leading 49.1 percent to 48.6 percent triggering an automatic recount of the votes, which was still on going as of Wednesday night. That race, along with Louisiana and a still un-called race in Alaska, left the decided breakdown at 52 seats for the GOP and 45 seats for the Democrats.

Finally, in the most underreported races of the night Alaska, Oregon and the District of Columbia all voted to legalize recreational marijuana last night. Pro-legalization groups campaigned heavily during the last few months, though their success was still uncertain going into Tuesday. Alaska is always nearly impossible to accurately poll, and Oregon’s race was too tight to call, though the District’s win was easily foreseen.

On the Hill, the Hamilton College Republicans and Democrats came together for the night, sharing fried chicken and macaroni and cheese in the Sadove Living Room. After the night’s big win for the GOP Sarah Larson ’15, president of the College Republicans explained the big win, “Team Republican cashed out in a big way last night. The fact of the matter is that when push came to shove Republicans showed up to the polls and Democrats didn’t.” And so far as the party’s legislative direction for the coming session she said that, “Republicans have to stop being a party of no and start being a party of solutions.”

Tracy Mazzerole ’15, president of the College Democrats was not as optimistic, “So while there are still a few states out there left to be counted, the results of this year’s midterms as beyond decided. America has chosen to elect a unified legislature for the first time since 2010 giving brief hope for more legislative progress in the next two years, though the President Obama’s reaction is yet to be measured and may just ensure another two years of partisan gridlock instead of progress.”

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