On November 6th, a midterm election for new representatives was held in the United States (US). As a result of the election, the Republican Party won the Senate, while the Democratic Party won in the US House of Representatives.
Results of 2018 US Midterm Elections
The US midterm elections are held every four years to newly elect most of the members of the US Congress. Since they are held in the middle of the four-year presidential term, the results of the elections are usually considered to be the midterm evaluation of the current president’s administration. In the 2018 midterm elections, almost one-third of 100 Senators, all the members of the 435 in the House of Representatives, and 36 governors out of a total of 50 were newly elected. Although there are a few votes that remain uncounted so that one race for the Senate and two races for the House of Representative have not been called yet, the result is almost settled that the Senate has 52 Republicans and 47 Democrats, while in the House of Representatives, the Democrats have won 233 seats and the Republicans have won 200 seats. Newly elected governors consist of 27 Republicans and 23 Democrats. Therefore, the ruling party has succeeded to keep the majority of the Senate, and the opposition party has won the control of the House of Representatives as expected. The voter turnout for midterm elections recorded 49% with 113 million voters; they were the first midterms with a turnout of over 100 million voters. Some media outlets, however, view this increased turnout negatively, saying that it shows the severe divide of public opinion.
The Implication of the Midterm Election Results
The results of the 2018 midterm elections have marked the accomplishment of diversity among the candidates and the elected representatives. There was the largest number of female candidates, and among them, an unprecedentedly large number of female representatives were elected. This year’s midterms have set a new record of at least 100 female representatives in the House. Moreover, the first openly gay governor was elected in Colorado. Since the results of the US midterm elections are expected to have some influence in international society as well as in the US, the world has been paying attention to the midterms. Right after the midterms, the US government announced new anti-dumping tariffs and countervailing duties on Chinese common alloy aluminum sheets as a measure of the trade war, which implied that the trade war might not be eased even with the new members in Congress. Some experts claim that the world should watch the US closely after the election; regarding its policy upon North Korea, its relationship with Russia, and its policy towards immigrants, which are issues that have a great impact on the world.