Will the Midterms Really Bring A “Blue Wave”?

Will the Midterms Really Bring A Blue Wave?

Eesha Shankar

I believe that January of 2019 will truly bring the “blue wave” to America. After a record high voting turnout for the 2018 midterm elections, the current congressional majorities have endured major changes. After two years of complete inefficiency and eye-opening actions, the people have finally realized that a series of mistakes were made in the 2016 election. Currently, both the House of Representatives and the Senate are controlled by the Republican Party, and yet while the right-wing party still has its grasp on the Senate, on November 6th, the House of Representatives was won by the Democrats. After a series of tight races across the nation, 231 seats have been won by Democratic candidates leaving 198 seats to the Republicans. However, the Senate is still controlled by the Republicans, who have fifty-one seats. These results, while somewhat balancing the power of each party within Congress, also bring into question how effective the next two years will be. Will any reforms be put in place? Many Republican candidates ran on the basis of replacing Obamacare with cost lowering healthcare reforms, but if Congress is stuck due to gridlock, how will these promises be fulfilled?

Then again, in the last two years Republicans have had control over both the Senate and the House, yet there have been no changes in regards to healthcare or anything else significant. It wouldn’t be surprising if no changes, beneficial or not, take place in the next two years either. No matter how qualified some of the newly elected Democratic representatives are, there is no way any left-leaning legislation will make its way through the Republican-filled legislative and executive branches. At best, these new officials will prevent conditions from getting worse; this means that helpful programs such a Planned Parenthood will get enough funding to survive for the next two years, but at the same time, issues like strict gun control laws bear little chance of improvement. Regardless, 2019 will bring an influx of changes in the structure of Congress and the entire federal government . Hopefully those changes lead to positive social and economical change.

 

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