US midterm elections 2022

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      Ron DeSantis landslide victory brings Trump and 2024 into focus

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      Ron DeSantis landslide victory brings Trump and 2024 into focusCrowd in Tampa chant encouragement to run for president as Florida governor revels in big win and even channels Churchill At Ron DeSantis’s election victory party in Tampa on Tuesday night, supporters of the rightwing Florida governor chanted: “Two more years!”Donald Trump warns party rival Ron DeSantis not to run for president in 2024Read moreGovernors serve four-year terms, but DeSantis is widely seen as a possible challenger to Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. DeSantis’s strong performance in Florida on Tuesday – as other Republicans across the US faltered – has greatly strengthened that position.In a landslide victory, with more than 95% of votes in, DeSantis won 59.4% of the vote with 4,607,597. Meanwhile, the Democratic candidate, Charlie Crist, won just 40% of the vote with 3,100,603.Trump has been reported to be planning a 2024 announcement this month, seeking to capitalise on Republican success in the midterm elections. At a rally in Ohio on Monday, he trailed an announcement on 15 November.But on the night when the Republicans’ hoped-for “red wave” seemed unlikely – though control of the House and the Senate remained in the balance – the atmosphere at Trump’s Florida home, Mar-a-Lago, was reported to be anxious.In Tampa, meanwhile, celebrations of DeSantis’s convincing win over his Democratic challenger Crist were raucous.In a speech laden with allusions to his handling of the Covid pandemic – a source of great controversy and under which 82,541 Floridians have died, the third-highest total of any US state – DeSantis said: “We chose facts over fear, we chose education over indoctrination, we chose law in order over rioting and disorder.“Florida was a refuge of sanity when the world went mad. We stood as the citadel of freedom for people across this country and indeed, across the world. We faced attacks, we took the hits, we weathered the storms but we stood our ground.“We did not back down. We had the conviction to guide us and we had the courage to lead. We made promises. We made promises to the people of Florida and we have delivered on those promises. And so today, after four years, the people have delivered their verdict.”01:41DeSantis has refused to say if he intends to serve a full second term, awkwardly so in his debate with Crist. In Tampa, when supporters chanted “two more years”, the governor smiled broadly and said: “Thank you very much.”He did not address Trump at all, let alone the former president’s threat, reported earlier in the day, to reveal “things about him that won’t be very flattering” if DeSantis does mount a White House run.Polling of the notional Republican field for 2024 gives Trump big leads but DeSantis is the only other name to regularly attract double-figure support. The Florida governor regularly wins polls when Trump is left out.News outlets have reported that DeSantis has indicated to donors he may seek to avoid confronting Trump, waiting for 2028 instead.But the measure of DeSantis’s success on Tuesday, coupled with an easy win for the Republican senator Marco Rubio over his Democratic opponent, the congresswoman and former Orlando police chief Val Demings, may have changed the equation.In Tampa, DeSantis nodded to startling successes in previously solidly Democratic areas, most prominently Miami-Dade county, when he said: “Thanks to the overwhelming support of the people of Florida we not only won the election, we have rewritten the political map. Thank you for honoring us with a win for the ages.”He also nodded to policies that have proved controversial but profitable, particularly regarding Covid and cracking down on the teaching of LGBTQ+ issues and the history of race in America.“We have embraced freedom,” he said. “We have maintained law and order. We have protected the rights of parents. We have respected our taxpayers and we reject ‘woke’ ideology.”The speech had the ring of a politician with one eye on the national and therefore global stage. Given conservative Americans’ long-established veneration of Winston Churchill, it was perhaps not surprising that in a speech delivered with notable confidence, DeSantis echoed the wartime British prime minister.In a speech largely devoted to crowing over the American left, DeSantis echoed Churchill’s famous promise from 1940, when he said Britain would fight “on the beaches … on the landing grounds … in the fields and in the streets”.“We fight the woke in the legislature,” DeSantis said, to steadily mounting cheers. “We fight the woke in the schools, we fight the woke in the corporations. We will never ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022FloridaRepublicansRon DeSantisUS politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      US states vote to protect reproductive rights in rebuke to anti-abortion push

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      US states vote to protect reproductive rights in rebuke to anti-abortion pushVermont, Michigan and California deliver blows to Republican agenda bent on dismantling the right to choose

      US midterm election results 2022: live
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      Voters in multiple states passed measures to enshrine the right to abortion during Tuesday’s midterm elections, delivering a rebuke to the crackdown on reproductive freedoms taking place across the US.In Michigan, abortion rights campaigners declared victory on a ballot initiative looking to secure a constitutional right to abortion, meaning the state will now escape the imposition of a 1931 abortion ban that was on the books.JD Vance wins Ohio Senate race by wider margin than predictedRead moreThe state is the first in the US to fight off a pre-existing abortion ban with a ballot proposal, called Proposal 3, in a move that campaigners across the country see as a possible road map for other states.“Proposal 3’s passage marks an historic victory for abortion access in our state and in our country – and Michigan has paved the way for future efforts to restore the rights and protections of Roe v Wade nationwide,” Darci McConnell, the communication director for Reproductive Freedom For All, wrote in a statement, announcing the news after it was called by ABC and NBC.The news broke as other US states too saw victories for abortion rights initiatives.Vermont became the first state in America to protect abortion rights in its state constitution just before Michigan, calling their result on Tuesday after its voters resoundingly backed a ballot initiative by a huge margin. And in California, voters were on track to overwhelmingly pass a measure to enshrine into the state’s constitution the right to an abortion and contraception.“Vermont voters made history tonight,” said the Vermont for Reproductive Liberty Ballot Committee, which campaigned for the amendment, according to local news. All votes had not yet been counted at 11pm ET, but the yes campaign was leading by 77% to 22%.“Vermonters support reproductive freedom in all four corners of the state … and they believe that our reproductive decisions are ours to make without interference from politicians,” the committee said in a statement.In Vermont, the outcome was always expected, in a New England state so pro-choice that even the Republican governor backed Proposal 5. The proposal, brought by pro-choice advocates, means the constitution now determines that an “individual’s right to personal reproductive autonomy is central to the liberty and dignity to determine one’s own life course”.California’s Proposition 1, meanwhile, was positioned as a direct response to the US supreme court’s decision that overturned decades of established access and thrust the country into turmoil. Voter’s decisive support for Prop 1 will further enhance the state’s reputation as a haven for reproductive care just as restrictions – and political divisions – deepen across the country.The state’s governor, Gavin Newsom – who won re-election on Tuesday with a large majority – joined in the celebrations at a Prop 1 rally.Gavin Newsom speaking now at Proposition 1 rally, which is poised to pass by a huge margin to enshrine right to abortion in California constitution: “We affirmed we are a true freedom state.”— Ashley Zavala (@ZavalaA) November 9, 2022
      “Governor Newsom made it clear that he wants California to be visible as a haven for people seeking reproductive healthcare and Proposition 1 is part of that,” said constitutional law professor Cary Franklin, who also serves as Faculty Director of the Center on Reproductive Health, Law, and Policy at the University of California Los Angeles. “It will get media attention and people will be made more aware that California is a place they can go.”The measure had been expected to easily pass, and analysts said support for reproductive rights could draw even more women and young people to the polls, which could play positively for Democrats in California’s conservative pockets.These wins deliver more blows for Republicans who are increasingly finding that, when put to a vote, Americans frequently do not agree with a sweeping agenda to dismantle abortion rights.So far, the anti-abortion movement has relied on judges, state houses and Republican lawmakers to curtail reproductive rights.But since the supreme court dismantled the constitutional right to abortion on 24 June, pro-choice advocates are increasingly looking to ballot initiatives as a way of shoring up rights. The anti-abortion movement suffered a huge blow over the summer when Kansas – a usually reliably red state – slammed down a proposal brought by the Republicans, looking to confirm there was no right to abortion in the state constitution.In Michigan the mood was already jubilant at the yes campaign’s watch party before they called the result, with voters screaming loudly, banging on tables and whooping in support of local voters, doctors and speakers from the American Civil Liberties Union and Planned Parenthood.“My name is Nicholas, and I live in Ingham county,” one campaigner took to the stage to say. Speaking about him and his girlfriend, he added: “We knocked on over 1,500 doors and walked over a hundred miles, talking to neighbors who – like the rest of us here – agree this is a fundamental right,” to screams and cheers.Nicole Wells Stallworth, executive director at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan later added: “We are living in a time like no other. The US supreme court did something they have never done: They reversed Roe. They tried it. And as such, we needed a campaign like none other. This campaign turned out to be just that.”TopicsAbortionUS midterm elections 2022US politicsVermontRoe v WadeCalifornianewsReuse this content More

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      'We bet on the people of Pennsylvania': John Fetterman beats Dr Oz to win key Senate seat – video

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      John Fetterman has defeated the Republican candidate Mehmet Oz, flipping a Senate seat in the highly competitive swing state of Pennsylvania. ‘We bet on the people of Pennsylvania and they never let us down,’ Fetterman said in his acceptance speech after a hard-fought campaign during which concerns about Fetterman’s health were raised by Oz’s team. 
      Fetterman, who had a stroke this year, said: ‘Healthcare is a fundamental human right. It saved my life and it should all be there for you.’ 
      The win raises Democratic hopes that the party can retain a slim majority in the Senate

      Fetterman defeats Oz in Pennsylvania Senate race, giving Democrats a boost
      US midterm election results 2022: live
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      'This is our time': Democrat Wes Moore becomes first Black governor of Maryland – video

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      Democrat Wes Moore has made history after becoming the first Black governor of Maryland. He replaces Republican Larry Hogan, a moderate who managed to twice win election in what is otherwise a solidly blue state. 
      The newly elected official assured the electorate ‘I hear you’ and ‘this is our time’ in his victory speech. Referencing his time in the army, Moore said ‘leave no man behind’. Joe Biden joined Moore in a pre-election rally in Maryland the evening before election day

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      Where’s the red wave? Five key takeaways from the US midterms

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      Where’s the red wave? Five key takeaways from the US midtermsDemocrats appear to have surprised even themselves, though a Republican majority in the House seems likely As results in America’s crucial midterm elections continue to come in, an unexpectedly mixed picture has emerged.Future of Congress hangs in balance as many races still too close to callRead moreMany observers across the political spectrum were expecting a surging Republican performance certain to take back the House and perhaps to capture the Senate. But instead Democrats have beaten expectations. Congress may still fall to the Republicans – with the House very likely changing hands – but it is now far from certain or by how big a margin.Here are some key takeaways:No red wave yetA wave of Republican wins was expected by almost everyone in the last few weeks of the campaign. While the party performed strongly in Florida under the governor, Ron DeSantis, across the rest of the US many candidates faltered. Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano lost in Pennsylvania for the Senate and governor’s mansion respectively – but JD Vance did win in Ohio’s Senate race.01:19Democratic surpriseDemocrats were so certain that they were in for a beating that some party figures, such as the California governor, Gavin Newsom, appeared already to be engaging in a blame game. Instead, they unexpectedly held on to vulnerable House seats from Virginia to Texas and scored comfortable wins in the Senate that had been doubted, such as in New Hampshire.House Republicans have trouble aheadThe current minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, declared victory before all the results were in. “When you awake,” he said, “we will be in the majority and Nancy Pelosi” – the Democratic speaker – “will be in the minority”. That seemed likely but some projections had the majority at one seat. Anything nearly so narrow will place McCarthy at the mercy of a fractured caucus, extremists including Marjorie Taylor Greene enjoying real power as they push an agenda of vengeance against Democrats, Joe Biden and even Anthony Fauci, the scientist who became the face of the US Covid response. McCarthy’s chances of becoming speaker also hang in the balance.Trump v DeSantis‘Two more years!’: Ron DeSantis victory brings Trump and 2024 into focusRead moreDonald Trump’s widely expected imminent announcement of a 2024 White House run now looks slightly less certain – or at least slightly less certain to clear opponents from his path. His main rival in the party, DeSantis, is emerging as strengthened after over-performing strongly while high-profile Trump-endorsed candidates struggled. Only a few days ago, DeSantis looked in retreat in the face of a possible Trump run. Now he looks ascendant.01:41Democracy defenders faired well – but threat remainsNumerous high-profile Republican candidates who have backed Trump’s lie about electoral fraud lost their races. In Pennsylvania, Mastriano – one of the most extreme candidates – was roundly trounced. In Michigan, the conspiracy theorist Kristina Karamo lost her race to be secretary of state. But due to the fact that election denial has become so commonplace in the Republican party, it is likely to remain a strong force. The Washington Post estimated that at least 159 election-denying Republicans had won their races on Tuesday.TopicsUS midterm elections 2022US politicsnewsReuse this content More

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      'Florida is where woke goes to die': Republican Ron DeSantis re-elected as governor – video

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      Ultra-conservative Republican Ron DeSantis defeated Democrat Charlie Crist in the midterm elections, granting him a second term as Florida’s governor. DeSantis’s win could serve as a launchpad for a White House bid in 2024, after being hailed as a rising star in the Republican party. The US midterms have been seen largely as a referendum for Biden’s presidency with Democrats beating expectations since voting closed

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      Democrat Tim Ryan concedes defeat in Ohio with call to 'leave age of stupidity behind' – video

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      Democratic candidate Tim Ryan concedes the Ohio US Senate race to Republican JD Vance in the midterm elections, telling his supporters it was a privilege to do so. ‘We can’t have a system where if you win, it’s a legitimate election and if you lose, someone stole it. That is not how we can move forward in the United States,’ Ryan said. 
      With polls closed across the country, Republicans were still favoured to wrest control of the US House of Representatives from President Joe Biden’s Democrats based on early returns, though the prospects of a ‘red wave’ in which they picked up dozens of seats appeared to have dimmed

      JD Vance wins Ohio Senate race by wider margin than predicted
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      Fetterman defeats Oz in Pennsylvania Senate race, giving Democrats a boost

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      Fetterman defeats Oz in Pennsylvania Senate race, giving Democrats a boostVictory overturns a Republican-held Senate seat and increases his party’s chances of retaining control of chamber

      US midterm election results 2022: live
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      01:19The Democratic party received a huge boost in Pennsylvania in the early hours of Wednesday morning, when John Fetterman won the state’s US Senate race to increase his party’s chances of retaining control of the chamber.Fetterman was declared the winner over Mehmet Oz, the Republican celebrity doctor, six hours after the polls closed, overturning a Republican-held Senate seat to bolster Democrats’ chances of retaining the chamber.Where’s the red wave? Five key takeaways from the US midtermsRead moreThe Democrat, who suffered a stroke in May which has impacted his ability to speak and process the sound of others’ speech, spent months ahead of Oz in the polls, but the race had tightened in recent weeks after a disappointing performance from Fetterman in a debate.It made for a jubilant atmosphere at Fetterman’s election night event in Pittsburgh, close to the borough of Braddock where Fetterman spent 13 years as mayor. Fetterman took the stage at 1.15am to declare victory, and said he had fought “for every person that works hard but never got ahead”.“This campaign has always been about fighting for anyone that ever got knocked down that got back up. This race is for the future of every community across Pennsylvania, for every small town or person that ever felt left behind,” Fetterman said.“I’m proud of what we ran on,” he said. “Protecting a woman’s right to choose, raising the minimum wage.”There was a raucous reception as Fetterman appeared on stage, wearing his customary hoodie with a pair of baggy blue jeans, and even louder applause as he thanked his wife, Gisele Barreto Fetterman, who has served as a convincing campaign surrogate while Fetterman recovered from the stroke.“Six months ago she saved my life,” Fetterman said. “She recognized what was happening.”He referenced the stroke again as he spoke about what he hoped to achieve in the Senate.“Healthcare is a fundamental human right. It saved my life and it should all be there for you whenever you might need it,” Fetterman said.Fetterman has presented himself as a blue collar Democrat, and has struck an unusual political figure throughout the campaign. At 6ft 8in tall, Fetterman is usually seen wearing hoodies at campaign events, and has tattoos on his forearms, including nine on his right arm which mark the dates that people were killed “through violence” in Braddock while he was mayor.“I think he’s a grass roots guy, he grew up in the state of Pennsylvania,” said Ron Caserta, a Fetterman voter. “And he’s been all through the state, he’s been to every county, so he’s in touch with the common citizen, and I think that’s his appeal.”Oz was dogged by questions about his actual connection to the state during the campaign. Oz lived in New Jersey for decades before he moved to Pennsylvania in October 2020, into a home owned by his wife’s family. He announced his bid to be the state’s US senator just months later.Following his stroke, during which Fetterman said he “​​almost died”, the Oz campaign had launched unsavory attacks with one Oz aide, Rachel Tripp, claiming Fetterman might not have had a stroke if he “had ever eaten a vegetable in his life”.The attacks ultimately proved futile, however, and Fetterman will replace the retiring Republican Pat Toomey in the Senate next year – to the delight of Democratic Pennsylvanians.Bill Beardsley, a retired union official with the Pittsburgh Steam Fitters union had been confident of a Fetterman win all along.“What the polling doesn’t reflect are the newly registered voters, most of which are women pissed off over Roe v Wade,” Beardsley said.“The polls narrowing – it’s bound to happen. Most elections they do narrow, it’s not surprising in the least. Plus Oz’s campaign ran a brutal amounts of false ads, all of them were negative, so it was bound to happen.”As for Oz, Beardsley was decidedly not a fan.“He’s a stone goof. He’s a fraud, he’s a charlatan, he’s a snake oil salesman,” he said.“And he doesn’t even live in Pennsylvania.”TopicsUS midterm elections 2022PennsylvaniaUS politicsDemocratsUS CongressUS SenatenewsReuse this content More