Republicans catch a wave

WASHINGTON—The Republican Party took advantage of widespread voter discontent to seize control of the U.S. Senate and pad its advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives in Tuesday’s midterm elections.

GOP candidates won at least seven Senate seats, one more than the six needed to gain majority power for the first time since 2007. That number could grow to as many as nine once all the votes are counted in Alaska and after a runoff election in Louisiana takes place next month. Republicans can do no worse than a 52-47 advantage.

In terms of sheer numbers, Tuesday’s results fell short of the “shellacking” Republicans delivered in 2010, but under the circumstances, it was about as close to a “wave” as they could get. Buoyed by a favorable map and an unpopular president, the GOP successfully defended three endangered seats and picked up Democratic seats in Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

“Are you having a good time?” asked a jubilant Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., as he addressed a raucous crowd at his campaign headquarters in Louisville. McConnell easily won a sixth term in office, defeating Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes by 16 percentage points and moving into position to become the next Senate majority leader.

Outgoing Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., congratulated McConnell on assuming the Senate’s top job. The White House declined to comment on the election results.

President Barack Obama was reduced to a spectator for most of the campaign, as candidates across the country tried to distance themselves from him and his agenda. On Tuesday, 6 in 10 voters said they were unhappy with the Obama administration.

“[This campaign] was about a government that people no longer trust to carry out even its basic duties, to keep them safe … a government that can’t do the basic things because it’s too focused on things it shouldn’t be focused on at all,” McConnell said.

Republicans benefitted from a rash of foreign policy crises—from the Islamic State to Russia—the Ebola outbreak, and several scandals that plagued the president’s party. State and federal GOP candidates outperformed preelection polling across the country.

One of the biggest surprise performances of the night came in Virginia, where Republican Ed Gillespie came close to defeating incumbent Sen. Mark Warner, a centrist Democrat who was thought to be safe. Gillespie, who trailed by less than 13,000 votes with 99.9 percent of precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, told supporters it might take a few days to sort out the winner. The libertarian candidate, Robert Sarvis, picked up 3 percent of the vote, and that may prove decisive.

In Georgia, businessman David Perdue provided another surprise with an 8-point win over Democrat Michelle Nunn, avoiding a runoff. In North Carolina, Republican Thom Tillis proved many pundits wrong by defeating incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan, 49 percent to 47 percent. In Kansas, Sen. Pat Roberts defied polls showing a close race and beat independent Greg Orman by 10 points.

Republicans also made gains in the U.S. House, with Evan Jenkins defeating 18-term Rep. Nick Rahall in West Virginia, and Rick Allen winning against five-term Rep. John Barrow in Georgia. Utah’s Mia Love, the former mayor of Saratoga Springs, appeared poised to become the first Republican African-American woman to serve in Congress.

House Republicans even picked up seats in several liberal strongholds, including parts of New York and Illinois, pushing the party closer to the 245 seats it set as a goal. It could be the largest GOP majority since the 1940s.

“We are humbled by the responsibility the American people have placed with us, but this is not a time for celebration,” House Speaker John Boehner said in a statement. “It’s time for government to start getting results and implementing solutions to the challenges facing our country, starting with our still-struggling economy.”

Getting something done may prove as difficult as ever. Obama holds the veto pen and has threatened executive action on a range of issues, including a possibly sweeping immigration proposal. Republicans will have to deal with myriad competing ideologies and agendas from within, as some party members position themselves for a 2016 presidential run, while others think about tough reelection battles looming ahead.

Despite the challenges, the GOP will be forced to make progress or face the possibility of giving the Senate right back to Democrats in 2016, when Republicans will play defense in 24 of 34 races. Several of those are first-time incumbents who won elections during the wave of 2010 in states Obama won.

Tax reform, immigration reform, changes to Obamacare, and approving the Keystone XL pipeline are some of the key items that will likely top the Republican to-do list. On the agenda for social conservatives will be a 20-week abortion ban, which passed the House this Congress but stalled in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

On the whole, social issues didn’t play a big role in the 2014 election, but they did factor in several races—particularly where Democrats invoked their familiar “war on women” narrative against Republicans. In Colorado, Mark Udall actually lost support among women after making abortion and contraception a major issue in his campaign against Republican Rep. Cory Gardner, who won by 6 percentage points.

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