American elections: the issue of the Senate
South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Jamie Harrison at the Democratic convention on August 18, 2020. Democratic National Convention via AP
Text by: Achim Lippold Follow
3 min
On November 3, Americans not only elect their president but also a good part of their representatives in Congress: all the members of the House and a third of the Senate.
This last ballot is as important as the presidential election, because without a majority in the Senate (now controlled by the Republicans), Joe Biden, if elected, will not be able to apply his political agenda.
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For these senatorial elections, 35 seats are at stake, of which a third - 12 to be precise - are held by the Democrats.
The latter must at least recover 4 seats to tip the majority in their favor.
In some states, the odds are not bad.
What can a possible Joe Biden elected to the White House do?
The answer does not lie in Washington, but among others in Colorado, Arizona or even North Carolina.
These three states will be particularly scrutinized during election night.
In Arizona, Democrats have a good chance of winning the seat held today by Martha McSally and ending Republican rule in that southern state.
Their candidate, former astronaut and soldier Mark Kelly, is very popular.
He also benefits from a certain frustration of voters in Arizona vis-à-vis Donald Trump, who in 2016 won the state.
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See also: Interactive map: on the road to the United States of America
Close to Trump, can Lindsay Graham lose her seat?
The Democrats could also surprise another conservative state, Georgia, and win at least one of the two seats up for grabs. That of the state of Maine is also within their reach.
Another senatorial election will surely hold the attention of the media: that in South Carolina where the Democratic candidate Jaime Harrison was able to collect a record sum for his campaign: 57 million dollars, or about double that of his Republican rival Lindsay Graham.
A defeat of this close friend of Donald Trump and chairman of the powerful judicial commission would not only be a failure for the party but also a setback for the president.
A few weeks ago, some polls gave him the loser, but according to the most recent surveys, Lindsay Graham could save his seat.
As for Alabama, it is the story of an announced defeat for the Democrats.
Current occupier Doug Jones was elected in 2017 after a sex scandal involving the former Republican senator.
Everyone agrees that this victory is an anomaly that will surely be corrected on November 3rd.
Because if some Republican strongholds are starting to falter, others like Alabama remain impregnable.
At least for now.
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To listen: American elections: D-3 and final stretch
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