Republican hopes of a “red wave” carrying them to power in the US Congress faded yesterday as Democrats put up a stronger-than-expected defense in a contest headed for a cliff-hanger finish.
With a majority of Tuesday’s races called, Republicans seemed on track to reclaim the US House of Representatives for the first time since 2018, but the US Senate was still in play, with forecasts tentatively leaning Democratic.
The midterms delivered a decidedly mixed bag for former US president Donald Trump, who though not on the ballot loomed large over the contest, teasing a 2024 run.
Photo: AFP
Aiming to deliver a rebuke of Biden’s presidency amid sky-high inflation and bitter culture wars, Republicans needed one extra seat to wrest control of the Senate.
However, by early yesterday, the only seat to change party hands went to the Democrats, with John Fetterman triumphing in Pennsylvania.
In the House, early results suggested Republicans were on track for a majority, but only by a handful of seats, a far cry from their predictions.
Photo: AP
Top Republican Kevin McCarthy — who hopes to be the lower chamber’s next speaker — struck an upbeat note, telling supporters in the early hours: “It is clear that we are going to take the House back.”
However, US Senator Lindsey Graham told NBC that the election is “definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure.”
The president’s party has traditionally lost seats in midterm elections, and with Biden’s ratings stuck in the low 40s, and inflation and crime top issues, pundits had predicted a drubbing.
Photo: AFP
That would have raised tough questions on whether the US’ oldest-ever president, who turns 80 this month, should run again.
Instead Biden stands to emerge in much better shape than either of his Democratic predecessors, former US presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, who both took a hammering at the midterms.
Control of the Senate hinged on four key races that were still on a knife-edge.
Democrats needed two more wins to hold the chamber, while Republicans needed three to flip it.
In Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin, counting the remaining votes for the Senate could take days.
And Georgia may well go to a runoff scheduled for Dec. 6.
In Arizona, there were problems with voting machines.
Officials in the most populous county of Maricopa said that about 20 percent of the 223 polling stations experienced difficulties related to printers.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
MIXED SOURCING: While Taiwan is expanding domestic production, it also sources munitions overseas, as some, like M855 rounds, are cheaper than locally made ones Taiwan and the US plan to jointly produce 155mm artillery shells, as the munition is in high demand due to the Ukraine-Russia war and should be useful in Taiwan’s self-defense, Armaments Bureau Director-General Lieutenant General Lin Wen-hsiang (林文祥) told lawmakers in Taipei yesterday. Lin was responding to questions about Taiwan’s partnership with allies in producing munitions at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. Given the intense demand for 155mm artillery shells in Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion, and in light of Taiwan’s own defensive needs, Taipei and Washington plan to jointly produce 155mm shells, said Lin,
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