Beijing News Express (Reporter Xie Lian, Intern Luan Xinyi) The US Congress midterm elections that began on the 6th local time are gradually coming to an end. According to CNN, the Democratic Party defeated the Republican Party 223:199 and won the first control of the House of Representatives in eight years. The Republican Party where Trump is located defeated the Democratic Party 51:46, expanding its majority in Senate .
Late on the night of Election Day, when the Republicans determined control of the Senate, Trump tweeted that "there was an important victory tonight." He later quoted a commenter saying that "the current president won a Senate majority in in midterm elections, which has only happened five times in the past 105 years."
and the Democratic Party is also "ambitious" about the future. According to CNN, at midnight, when the Democrats confirmed their control of the House, Democratic leader and spokesperson of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi told supporters that "tomorrow will be a new day for the United States", promising that the House of Representatives under the Democratic control will resume "checks and balances" against the Trump administration.
Professor Zhu Feng, dean of the Institute of International Relations at Nanjing University, said that the Democratic Party won a small victory in the midterm elections, and the Republican Party maintained it, but the two houses of Congress belong to two parties, which may complicate the domestic political situation in the United States.
The midterm election with over 100 million votes for the first time
On November 6th local time, the 2018 US Congress midterm elections began. In this election, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives were re-elected, 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate were re-elected. In addition, the governors of 36 of the 50 states in the United States, the chief executives of three overseas territories and most state-level legislatures were re-elected.
Voters are in high spirits in this midterm election. According to CBS, the turnout rate of the election hit a record high, with 49% of qualified voters and nearly 113 million Americans participating in the vote, becoming the first midterm election in history with more than 100 million voters.
Professor Zhu Feng said that there are two main reasons why the turnout rate in this midterm election is so high. First, the social division in the United States reached an unprecedented level during the Trump era, and this division caused the political and social demands of voters to rise. American voters have a clear attitude towards Trump. Those who support him vote for him quickly, and those who oppose him also hope to express their attitudes and opinions through votes. Second, Trump cannot lose this midterm election, and the Democratic Party needs to move forward, so both parties are trying hard to mobilize voters to vote. Since October, Trump has been traveling around the country and held dozens of campaign rallies to stand up for the Republican Party, that is, he hopes to mobilize voters to vote for the Republican Party.
The two houses of Congress belong to different political parties to usher in "split"
Zhu Feng said that in this midterm election, the Republican Party did not lose a big loss, and the Democratic Party did not win a big victory. But the situation where both houses of Congress are controlled by the Republican Party has been broken, and competition among domestic political parties in the United States will intensify.
and losing the House of Representatives will still have a significant impact on Trump. According to the Huffington Post , after the Democrats win a majority in the House of Representatives, they can file a number of investigations into Trump and his family, including an investigation into Trump's " Russian Gate " and his business empire (such as tax returns). In addition, the Democrats can also more effectively prevent Trump from legislation, especially on the establishment of the "Mexican border wall", etc.
In addition to this, the Democrats control the House of Representatives and have the power to initiate the presidential impeachment process. According to CNN, if Special Prosecutor Mueller finds key evidence in his investigation into the "Russia Gate", the Democrats can initiate impeachment of the president.
However, Republican control over the Senate can prevent impeachment. According to , the U.S. Constitution , in the impeachment against the president, the House of Representatives acts as a grand jury to decide whether to conduct impeachment. The Senate acts as a jury and exercises the right to trial the impeachment case. The House Judiciary Committee votes to pass the clause to impeach the president and submits it to the Senate. More than two-thirds of the Senate members agree to make the impeachment effective.
However, if the Senate and the House of Representatives cannot reach an agreement on related matters, it may lead to a shutdown of the government.In September 2013, during the administration of Obama's , the temporary funding bill proposed by the Republican-led House of Representatives was not passed by the Democratic Senate because it was contrary to Obama's health insurance reform. The bipartisan dispute over government budgets ultimately led to a 16-day government shutdown.
Beijing News reporter Xie Lian Intern Luan Xinyi Intern Editor Ma Jinqian Proofreading Wang Xin
