The US midterms drew to a close during the early hours of Wednesday morning, with both sides claiming respective victories.
Whilst the Democrats ended the Republicans 8-year hold of the House of Representatives, Republicans made gains in the upper chamber of Congress.
President Trump took to twitter to announced a press conference to discuss ‘success’ in the midterms.
Marking a shift towards a more conciliatory tone, Trump also took the opportunity to congratulate Nancy Pelosi for becoming speaker of the house.
He tweeted:
In all fairness, Nancy Pelosi deserves to be chosen Speaker of the House by the Democrats. If they give her a hard time, perhaps we will add some Republican votes. She has earned this great honor!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 7, 2018
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Whilst perhaps not quite the ‘blue wave’ anticipated by Democrats, a House majority will enable greater checks upon executive power.
This majority will make it significantly more difficult for President Trump to pass his legislative agenda through congress.
Moreover, the House of Representatives can now also bring forward Impeachment proceedings against Trump, should they deem it necessary.
Crucially, however, an Impeachment trial would be ultimately decided upon in the Senate, as was the case with Bill Clinton’s case in 1998.
Overall, turnout proved unusually high for the midterms, with the Democrats gaining at least 26 House seats.
Meanwhile, the Republicans gained at least 2 seats in the Senate.
It also proved a good year for women in politics, with 92 women elected to the 435 member House. This beat a previous record of 84.
