This year’s midterm elections will decide the control of Congress as well as 36 state governorships, The Guardian reported.
Elections happen every two years. Why is this election so important?
America is hurtling towards the first nationwide test of its democracy since former president Donald Trump left the White House and his supporters launched a deadly insurrection on the Capitol to stop the legitimate election results.
And many key issues are on the ballot this year that will shape America.
Furthermore, this year’s midterms fire the starting gun for the race to the 2024 presidential elections.
From abortion rights to democracy as a whole, the midterms matter for some of the biggest issues facing not only the U.S. but the world.
A frenzy of speculation over who will be running in the 2024 presidential election is likely to begin imminently. Midterms are typically seen as a referendum to the incumbent president. If the Democrats take big losses, there may be calls for President Joe Biden to not seek reelection.
The Republicans are already quarreling over whether Trump should be on the ballot. This election provides Trump a test of his own electoral viability as well.
Democracy as a whole is seen as a massive issue for this election.
Several Republican candidates who have doubted the results of the proven-legitimate 2020 election are on the cusp of winning a swath of seats, across gubernatorial, attorneys general, and secretary-of-state contests in Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada, and other key battleground states.
Those offices all play a role in ensuring that votes are lawfully cast and counted. If these Republican candidates win, they would oversee the 2024 presidential election in their states. There is already deep concern they would use their positions to sow confusion to try to overturn the result of the 2024 vote, refusing to seat any candidate who defeats Trump.
Republicans are expected to take back control of the House of Representatives. If so, election denialism will be prominent among its members there too: 124 candidates who either denied or doubted the election is heavily favored to win their contests. Republicans could use their new majority to launch investigations, hold hearings, and spread misinformation about elections.
Republicans taking either the House or the Senate, or both, would also end all hope that Democrats have of passing any kind of federal voting rights legislation. Even with control over the legislative branch for two years, the Democrats have been unable to pass any kind of voting rights legislation because of the GOP’s filibuster, deployed to stop the legislation.
Another key issue is judges. Trump was busy in his time in office appointing judges across the nation, and filling any potential vacancy with judges who align with his beliefs. He appointed more than 200 judges to the federal judicial system in his mere four years.
Judges’ decisions affect millions of lives.
If the Republicans take the Senate and House, they will have the power to block any of Biden’s nominations in the next two years.
Another big issue that the Biden administration and Democratic lawmakers are bracing for is a legislative blockade and an onslaught of investigations. If Republicans take the House majority, one of the first orders of business will likely be terminating the work of the select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection.
And Republicans would be expected to launch their own investigations as well. This includes investigating the work of the select committee, as well as investigating Hunter Biden, and the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Abortion is a massive one for the midterms. The supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade in June catapulted the issue of abortion to the front and center of several key midterm contests. The outcomes of governor’s races in particular could have direct consequences on the future of abortion access, which will now be decided by the states.
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