Completely Lost

After Raphael Warnock’s reelection in the Georgia runoff, the Democrats can breathe a sigh of relief. The Republicans are in dire straits.

With the Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock’s victory in the Georgia runoff, the November midterm elections are finally over. As a result, the Democrats have indeed lost their narrow majority in the House of Representatives but have gained one seat in the Senate — an extremely good result for the president’s party.

On the one hand, the Democrats can be proud of the fact that they once again won an election in deeply Republican Georgia. Something is shifting in the suburbs of Atlanta and elsewhere. On the other hand, there is a bitter feeling that by voting for the Republican candidate Herschel Walker, 49.6% of the electorate wanted to see a man in the Senate who had been unmasked during the election campaign as a liar, a hypocrite, allegedly a violent criminal and completely clueless.

Such a person would previously have been unelectable regardless of their party. After the election is before the election — in the U.S. even more so than anywhere else with its biennial rhythm. If the 2024 presidential election is Joe Biden versus Donald Trump once again, then Biden will have a clear advantage with the midterm election results. But until then, there will be a good 15 months of squabbling on the Republican side, during which time anything can happen.

Whether with or ultimately without Trump, the Republican Party is currently far from being a well-articulated conservative voice on the democratic spectrum of opinions. And it has little chance of positioning itself strategically on the national level so long as Trump and his coup-like movement are still heavily involved.

If the Democrats know how to take advantage of the good result from the midterms, if the effects of the aid and infrastructure packages will soon come into force, if Biden cuts a reasonably good figure and his health does not deteriorate further, then it may cost the Republicans at least one or two legislative terms before they can be happy with their chances again.