By Ryan Burnett, Staff Writer
The 2022 midterm elections have ended with the House of Representatives flipping to the Republican party. The Republican party has not controlled the house since 2017, back when former president Donald J. Trump was in power.
In total, Republicans managed to gain 8 seats, bringing their total up to 220 seats. This gave them the 218 seats needed for a majority. Now that the Republicans have the majority, they now have more power than the Democrats.
Some of the major wins for the Republican Party included New York, California and Virginia. Many of these states are larger, meaning that they have more seats for the House, which means that they will be able to have more of a say in Congress.
The House now being Republican puts Joe Biden in a gridlock. Both parties have views that contradict each other. Some students believe that it does matter that the parties have flipped, including junior Mustafa Rizvi who states, “I think it matters more than people say because Republicans are able to get a higher percentage of voting.” Junior Rebecca Sirak agrees, “I think it does matter because the President is Democratic, so it will be harder for him to pass bills.”
Conversely, Senate candidates endorsed by Donald Trump had a disappointing turnout, some may say. Many news organizations, including FOX, were predicting that this election was going to be the “Red Wave” that the Republican Party needed, but this did not turn out to be the case. They needed the “Red Wave” because they wanted to gain full control of the government.
Many of Trump’s candidates ended up losing the key races needed to win. These include Memet Oz, Lari Lake and Hershel Walker. These and many of his candidates did not support abortion and denied the 2020 election results.
These key races helped the Democratic Party maintain control of the Senate but not the House. Even though the Senate is controlled by the Democrats, Joe Biden will be at a standstill since he does not have full control.
Freshman Ellicott Olson agrees because “it affects what laws get passed because Republican and Democrats have different ideas.” Same with sophomore Clara McKnight, who states, “Yes it does matter because they make a lot of decisions.” Finally, sophomore Noelle Goiton believes the flip does matter “because the legislation cannot test because they are in a gridlock.”
Even with the disappointing turnout, former President Donald Trump still wants to make a run for president in 2024. Many are wondering who he is going to pick as his vice president. The world of the front-runners include Lari Lake and Ron DeSantis, two far right people who love Trump.