Republican victories painted the nation red on Tuesday night. The GOP gained control of the U.S. Senate for the first time since the 2006 elections while maintaining a wide majority margin in the U.S. House of Representatives.
With Republicans elected from Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia, the party holds at least 52 Senate seats as of press time, according to CNN. Senate races in Alaska and Virginia have yet to be called, while Louisiana will hold a runoff in December.
“The American people voted for a split government and handed the Republicans a huge victory,” junior Josiah Lippincott said. “The Republicans should exploit that to show how they differ from their progressive political brethren. My hope is that by the end of the next two years the difference between Republicans and Democrats will continue to be really clear; that seems to lead to more people voting Republican. The Democrats won’t have Obama to inspire hope in their base forever.”
In the House, Republicans hold the largest majority since the Truman Administration nearly a century ago. Republicans currently hold a definite 243 seats, according to CNN, and some results are still being called.
“Tomorrow the papers will say I won this race, but the truth is, tonight we begin another race … that’s the race to turn the country around,” probable Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell told cheering supporters in his victory speech in Louisville, Kentucky Tuesday evening.
Whether Republicans won due to change in public sympathy toward conservative ideals or to discontent with policies of the Obama Administration remains to be seen.
“I think this election wasn’t as much about loving Republicans as being angry at Democrats,” Professor of Politics Adam Carrington said. “You shouldn’t assume that just because someone hates the other person so much that they will accept you means that now they love you. That’s a trap they shouldn’t fall into.”
Incoming members of congress include several historic firsts. Joni Ernst, elected to represent Iowa in the Senate, will be the first female combat veteran ever to be elected to the Senate, as well as the first Iowan woman to represent the state in Congress. Tom Cotton, Arkansas’ newest elected senator, will be the first Afghanistan War veteran elected to the Senate. Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina will be the first African-American from the South elected to the Senate since Reconstruction.
“This win is huge for the Republican Party and conservatives overall,” Young Americans for Freedom President junior Savanna Wierenga said. “We can prove to America that our actions will be the turning factor to get our country back on the right track. We are on the right track to seeing something good happen in the White House in 2016. This is just what we needed.”
In Michigan, Democrat Gary Peters defeated Republican Terri Lynn Land with a 55 to 41 margin and more than 400,000 votes. Peters has led in polls by between eight and 15 points since early last month.
“Even though Terri Lynn Land lost, the Republicans did take the Senate overall, and Governor Snyder got reelected,” College Republicans President junior Sam Holdeman said. “Snyder pulled out a nice solid win, which shows that Michiganders want four more years of Snyder.”
Governor Rick Snyder defeated democratic challenger Mark Schauer by a 51 to 47 margin.
With Republicans holding a majority in both houses of Congress, legislative action will likely include passing a budget.
“We need to have a budget,” Sen. Mike Lee told the Collegian during his Oct. 24 visit_. “We haven’t passed a budget in five and a half years. One of the reasons that’s so important is that a budget is the predicate — it’s the precursor to a regular ordered appropriations process. Because we haven’t had a budget in five and a half years, we haven’t had a regular ordered appropriations process in five and a half years: it’s that function-by-function appropriations process that really gives Congress control over the executive branch and makes the executive branch accountable to the people’s elected representative in Congress.”
Lee also included regulatory reform, repeal of the Medical Device tax in the Affordable Care Act legislation, tax reform, and the approval of the Keystone XL Pipeline among his priorities.
Whether or not Republicans will be able to push legislation through the White House is less certain. In a press conference Wednesday, Obama addressed the issue of gridlock on the issue of immigration in an opposing majority in Congress.
“Congress will pass some bills I cannot sign,” he said, according to the Washington Post. “I’m pretty sure I’ll take some actions that some in Congress will not like. That’s natural. That’s how our democracy works.”
He added, “So, before the end of the year, we’re going to take whatever lawful actions that I can take, that I believe will improve the functioning of our immigration system, that will allow us to surge additional resources to the border, where I think the vast majority of Americans have the deepest concern.”
Students at Hillsdale celebrated Republican victories, cheering as results rolled in in the Grewcock Student Union. Many predicted Republican victory early on.
“I would be really surprised if Joni Ernst didn’t win,” senior Maddie Overholtzer said Tuesday evening. “She smashed it in the primary and if she wasn’t up by at least five if not ten percent I would find it hard to believe. That side of Iowa is almost tailor-made for her.”
“I was very optimistic for Republicans,” senior Bronte Wigen said Wednesday. “Primarily because Obamacare has been such a fiasco, and the Ebola outbreak, and on immigration, they’re pushing amnesty and people are not happy about it.”
As the election day hype dies down, students look to the victories of Tuesday with high hopes for presidential elections in two years.
“This past election has really riled me up for 2016,” Wierenga said. “I am going to campaign my heart out during the next few years. I need to make sure that I’m informing my generation and persuading them to take a side on issues and get out the vote.”
