On a Saturday in November, the Democratic Party secured Senate control for the next two years, as Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto held her seat in Nevada and delivered the fiftieth vote the party needed. It is the kind of quiet hinge that a democracy turns on: a single state, strained by high prices and worry about the future, decided whether a president's program would move forward with ease or friction. Across the country, voters weighed inflation and crime against abortion rights and the health of democracy itself, and the balance they struck tilted, for now, toward the party in power in the Se
Democrats Hold Senate Majority as GOP Push Falters in Nevada
Democrats kept control of the Senate, repelling Republican efforts to retake it
Mark
Why does Nevada carry so much weight here?
Mimi
It's the seat that tipped the chamber. Cortez Masto's win gave Democrats their 50th seat, and she was seen as the most vulnerable senator in the country.
Mark
And the conditions were against her?
Mimi
Nevada has some of the highest gas prices in the nation, and about half of surveyed voters called the economy the top issue. Three-fourths said the country was on the wrong track.
Luke
Careful, though. Those survey numbers come from AP VoteCast, a poll of 2,100 Nevada voters. It tells us the mood, not why she won.
Mark
So what do Democrats say won it?
Mimi
Schumer points to abortion rights and Republican extremism. Nationally, 7 in 10 voters said the Roe decision mattered to their choice.
Luke
That's a measure of importance, not of how people voted. And Republicans ran on inflation, crime and the border. Half of voters said inflation weighed heavily, so both stories show up in the data.
Mark
Does the 50-seat count give Democrats a free hand?
Mimi
No. They lack 60 votes for many major bills. But they control nominations, committees and oversight.
Luke
And the House is still unresolved. Biden himself called holding it a stretch, so nothing beyond the Senate is settled.
El Pulso
- Democrats clinched the 50 seats needed to hold the Senate after Cortez Masto's Nevada win, shutting down Republican hopes of taking the chamber.
- Nevada voters, roughly three-fourths of them convinced the country was on the wrong track, pressed hard on an economy strained by gas prices and inflation.
- Republicans hammered on inflation, crime, and border crossings, while Democrats mobilized voter anger over the overturned abortion right and warnings about threats to democracy.
- Biden called the House outlook 'a stretch,' with Republicans struggling to assemble even a slim majority, leaving control of that chamber unresolved.
- A Dec. 6 Georgia runoff between Warnock and Walker could add a 51st Senate seat, while Trump's planned third presidential run looms over what comes next.
On a Saturday in November, the Democratic Party secured Senate control for the next two years, as Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto held her seat in Nevada and delivered the fiftieth vote the party needed. It is the kind of quiet hinge that a democracy turns on: a single state, strained by high prices and worry about the future, decided whether a president's program would move forward with ease or friction. Across the country, voters weighed inflation and crime against abortion rights and the health of democracy itself, and the balance they struck tilted, for now, toward the party in power in the Senate. The House, however, remained unsettled, a reminder that the story of this election was not yet finished.
On Saturday, Democrats secured control of the Senate for the next two years. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto's victory in Nevada gave the party its fiftieth seat, blocking Republican ambitions to retake the chamber and easing the path for President Biden's agenda. The House, by contrast, remained unsettled, with Republicans struggling to build even a slim majority.
Nevada was the hardest test. Cortez Masto, seen as the Senate's most vulnerable incumbent, faced an economically strained electorate paying some of the country's highest gas prices. Voters surveyed by AP VoteCast overwhelmingly felt the nation was headed the wrong way, and many put the economy first. Her win fit a wider pattern: Democrats had hoped untested Republican nominees, many backed by Trump, would falter in key battlegrounds, and in Pennsylvania and Arizona that hope largely held.
The campaign turned on competing fears. Republicans pressed on inflation, crime, and the border. Democrats answered with anger over the Supreme Court's overturning of abortion rights and with warnings about democracy after January 6 and Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Nationally, many voters said abortion and democracy weighed heavily on their choice, even as inflation pressed on many households.
With the Senate secured, Biden spoke optimistically from Cambodia, while acknowledging that a House majority would be a long shot. The next chapter arrives on Dec. 6, when Georgia's runoff could give Democrats a 51st seat, and the House count still has to be finished.
On Saturday, Democrats secured control of the Senate for the next two years. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto's win in Nevada gave the party the 50 seats it needed, shutting down Republican hopes of retaking the chamber and making it harder for the GOP to block President Biden's agenda. Control of the House was still unsettled, with Republicans struggling to assemble even a slim majority there.
Nevada was the hardest test. Cortez Masto was seeking reelection in an economically strained state with some of the highest gas prices in the country, and she was regarded as the Senate's most vulnerable member. Republicans had been confident they could beat her, which sharpened their frustration. AP VoteCast, a survey of 2,100 Nevada voters, found that roughly three-fourths said the country was headed in the wrong direction, and about half named the economy as the nation's most important issue. Nevada is closely divided, one of the most racially diverse states in the country, and its working-class residents have been hit especially hard by inflation.
Her victory fit a broader pattern of Democratic strength this year. Both parties had poured tens of millions of dollars into Pennsylvania, Arizona, Nevada and Georgia, the main Senate battlegrounds. Democrats had hoped that Republican nominees who were untested, many of them backed by former President Donald Trump, would help them defy national headwinds. In Pennsylvania, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman defeated the celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, whom Trump had endorsed, flipping a seat Republicans held. In Arizona, Sen. Mark Kelly won reelection by about 5 percentage points.
Only one Senate contest remains in play between the two parties. In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock faces Republican Herschel Walker in a Dec. 6 runoff. Alaska's Senate race has moved to ranked choice voting, though the seat will stay in Republican hands.
Keeping the majority has practical consequences. Biden's Cabinet appointments and judicial picks, including any Supreme Court openings, should move more smoothly. Democrats keep control of committees and the power to investigate and oversee the administration, and they can reject legislation the House sends over if Republicans win that chamber. Democrats still lack the 60 votes needed to pass many major kinds of legislation, even if they were to hold the House and gain full control of Congress, which would give Biden another shot at priorities such as codifying abortion rights.
Speaking in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, at the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Biden said he felt good and was looking forward to the next couple of years. He said a 51st seat from Georgia would matter because it would improve Democrats' standing on Senate committees. "The bigger the number, the better," he said. He had called Cortez Masto to congratulate her, and said he remained hopeful about the House but acknowledged it was "a stretch" and that everything would have to fall Democrats' way.
Republicans had campaigned relentlessly on the economy, pointing to stubborn inflation and high gas and food prices. They also hit Democrats on crime, a message that at times overstated the threat but tapped real anxiety, especially among suburban voters who turned away from the party in 2018 and 2020, and on illegal border crossings. Democrats countered with voter anger over the Supreme Court's June decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion, and portrayed Republicans as extreme and a threat to democracy after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol insurrection and Trump's false claims, repeated by many GOP candidates, that the 2020 election was stolen.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said voters had soundly rejected the "anti-democratic, authoritarian, nasty and divisive direction" of "MAGA Republicans." Nationally, VoteCast found that 7 in 10 voters called the Roe v. Wade decision an important factor, and about 6 in 10 favored a law guaranteeing legal abortion nationwide. Half said inflation weighed significantly on their vote, and 44% said the future of democracy was their primary consideration.
Democrats also won governors' races in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, battlegrounds critical to Biden's 2020 win, while Republicans held Florida, Texas and Georgia. Trump, meanwhile, plans to announce a third run for president Tuesday at Mar-a-Lago, setting up a possible rematch with Biden. "I think the Republican Party is going to have to ... decide who they are," Biden said. Next up are the Georgia runoff on Dec. 6 and the still-unresolved House count.
Citas Notables
The bigger the number, the better.— President Biden, on winning a 51st Senate seat
The American people soundly rejected the anti-democratic, authoritarian, nasty and divisive direction MAGA Republicans wanted to take the country.— Sen. Chuck Schumer, paraphrased
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