US Midterms: Blue wave as Democrats win big

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

The Hard Shoulder, with Ciara Kelly and Shane Colman, on Newstalk, with Kiya.

Ciara Kelly (0:09)

The Democrats have won both the US Senate and the House of Representatives in the US midterm elections and will now take control of Congress for the rest of Donald Trump's presidency. And I'm joined by North America correspondent for BBC News, Anthony Zurcher, to give us the rundown on the fallout. Good evening to you, Anthony. The blue tsunami did take place.

Anthony Zurcher (0:28)

It did, all of the polls that we were seeing leading up to the voting in the recent weeks, they proved to be pretty accurate. Democrats not only won the House of Representatives, which was widely considered a likelihood, but they took the US Senate. They won every single one of these state races that were identified as potential battlegrounds. They won in places like Maine and Ohio and Texas and Kansas and Iowa and even in South Carolina, unseating a Republican who was running there, Darlene Graham, the sister of late Lindsey Graham, the longtime Republican Senator. That wasn't on very many people's radar even just a week or two ago, so it was a sweeping victory.

Ciara Kelly (1:13)

Yeah. Kansas flipping to blue after nearly a century since the last time. What will this mean, Anthony? I suppose it's the next thing.

By the way, before we move on to what it might mean, there are still races being counted that are maybe not important in the greater scheme of things, but that are tight run and that I suppose the Republicans might be clinging on to a bit of hope in.

Anthony Zurcher (1:34)

Right. We still don't know the exact size of the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives, although all indications are that it is going to be one of the larger ones in modern political history. But there are a couple of Senate races that are still to be decided out there. There's one in Mississippi, another that is a bit of a surprise for the Democrats. Last I checked was up by maybe just a few dozen votes over his Republican opponent. They're going to have to wait for more votes to come in and to be counted. They can still be counted if they're postmarked by election day and received by mail the next four days.

Then the Alaska Senate race, which would generate a lot of interest for the past few weeks. That looks like it could be headed towards the ranked choice tabulation where the lower vote getting candidates are removed and their second choice of the people who voted for them is then applied to the remaining candidates. That won't happen for another two weeks. So we're going to have to wait at least a little bit before the full picture of the Democratic win takes shape.

Ciara Kelly (2:37)

Anthony, President Trump was in relatively for him, conciliatory form. He certainly hasn't behaved in the way he has previously on losing elections.

Anthony Zurcher (2:46)

Yeah, he hasn't rage posted on social media so much. He was answering the phone and talking to a lot of journalists last night.

He was offering a fig leaf at times saying that he wanted to work with the Democrats. He said he spoke with Democratic leaders that he didn't want to spend his next two years just vetoing Democratic legislation. Although then he would later post on social media a picture of one of his trademark red MAGA ball caps with just the words veto written on it. There was a post a little earlier today with him, a picture of him in front of the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office, and the message that I'm still your president, essentially reminding people that he's still president and he still has powers, which he most definitely does and for the next few years, he can certainly exercise them in ways that will be very confrontational for the Democrats who are coming into power looking to advance their own agenda.

Ciara Kelly (3:44)

Yeah, because he has been a president who has leaned heavily on executive orders, that kind of imperialistic approach, if you will. So he still has some powers, even despite a big Democrat majority.

Anthony Zurcher (3:56)

He does. The veto power is one of the big ones that is built into the Constitution. He can veto any legislation. He also has broad powers in foreign policy. As the commander in chief of the armed forces, he could use them abroad. He could continue the Iran war despite efforts by Democrats in Congress, maybe to curtail his power there. He can still write treaties and negotiate treaties and trade deals.

Of course, he also has broad powers in immigration enforcement, even if Democrats are going to try to curtail him there as well. But the Supreme Court has given presidents of interpretive presidents as having substantive power on who can come into the country and who can leave. These are all areas that were near and near to Donald Trump's heart for much of his political career and areas where he can still try to make his mark.