Control of the House in 2007 will rest with the Democrats and the first Madame House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi. Although the U.S. still has an ultra neo-conservative president in power, I am optimistic that a new direction can take place. Democrats will now have the chance to launch inquiries into the illegal doings of President Bush along with his handling Iraq. This country desperately needs to refocus its efforts both domestically and internationally. And although, the races in Montana and Virginia have not been decided, the control of the House will certainly change the priorities of legislations down in Washington, D.C.
In key results:
- In Pennsylvania, Democrat Bob Casey Jr beat one of his party’s biggest Republican targets this year, arch-conservative incumbent Rick Santorum.
- In Ohio, where the Republican Party has been hit by scandal, Democrat Sherrod Brown won a decisive victory over incumbent Republican Mike DeWine.
- The Senate seat in Rhode Island went to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse after a closely-fought battle with incumbent Republican Lincoln Chafee.
- In New Jersey, Democrat incumbent Senator Bob Menendez succeeded in holding off a strong challenge from the Republicans’ Thomas Kean.
- The Senate seat in Connecticut has gone to Joe Lieberman, who stood as an independent after losing the Democratic primary to Ned Lamont amid strong anti-war feeling. He has said he will align himself with the Democrats, as has Vermont’s new socialist senator, Bernie Sanders, also an independent.
- Democrat Keith Ellison was elected as the nation’s first Muslim member of Congress, taking a House seat in Minnesota.
- In West Virginia, Democrat Robert Byrd’s victory made him the Senate’s longest serving member. The 88-year-old won a record ninth six-year term.
- Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton has strolled to re-election in New York, as expected. Her win opens the way for a potential presidential run in 2008.
- Republicans lost the Florida district of Mark Foley, who resigned after the disclosure that he sent sexually explicit messages to teenage male congressional assistants.
