While you were watching the insurrection, Democrats won the US Senate
January 07, 2021
Earlier this week, we told readers to brace for a hellish week in US politics. As we saw Wednesday, when armed rioters, goaded by President Trump, stormed the Capitol building in a bid to stop the certification of Joe Biden's election win, this week's events turned out to be as infernal as billed — and then some.
But while we were (understandably) distracted, something else very big happened: Democrats won the US Senate, a political development with massive implications for Biden's legislative agenda over the next four years.
<p><strong>Georgia's nail-biter runoff elections.</strong> In winning runoff elections for both of Georgia's Senate seats Tuesday, Democrats succeeded in turning a historically-red state blue. Reverend <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/us/verlene-warnock-pick-cotton-trnd/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Raphael Warnock</a> will now make history as the first Black person from Georgia — and the first Black Democrat from the once-segregationist South — to be sworn in as a US Senator. <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-ossoff-s-expected-georgia-win-will-make-jewish-history-1.9428335" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jon Ossoff, </a>meanwhile, will be the first Jewish senator from the South since the 1970s. </p><p><strong>But the results from Georgia will reverberate far beyond the Peach State. </strong>Democrats will now have control of the White House and both chambers of Congress for the first time in a decade. </p><p><strong>A boost for Biden. </strong>The incoming president will now have a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/01/democrats-take-senate-majority/617562/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">better shot </a>at getting (parts) of his legislative agenda through Congress. In addition, Biden's picks for federal judgeships and cabinet posts will encounter little obstruction. It's even possible that there will be a <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/06/liberals-to-breyer-retire-455321" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Supreme Court vacancy</a> during Biden's term. </p><p>One of Biden's early objectives will be passing a <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2021/01/07/georgia-senate-race-democrats-wins-should-aid-biden-economic-plan-bit/6570522002/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">more robust COVID relief package, </a>something Democrats have pushed for against Republican stonewalling in the Senate. That legislation, which would dole out more generous stimulus checks — a move supported by <a href="https://www.masslive.com/coronavirus/2021/01/65-of-americans-support-monthly-2000-covid-stimulus-payments-new-poll-shows.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">65 percent</a> of American voters — could also position Democrats well ahead of what will be the usual cut-throat midterm elections in 2022. </p><p><strong>But there are limits to what Biden can do.</strong> While Biden will now have a good chance of passing legislation on issues like health care and <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/democratic-control-of-senate-is-victory-for-biden-climate-change-agenda.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">climate change, </a>the Democrats' razor-thin Senate majority (it's a 50-50 tie with Vice President Kamala Harris casting a tie breaker vote) means that Biden will need the support of moderates on both sides of the aisle to get things done (all non-budgetary legislation requires at least 60 votes to pass in the Senate). </p><p>This means that Biden will not be able to fulfill the wishlist of progressive Democrats, whose <a href="https://apnews.com/article/a147af575395dd355937d16d2ece72b5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">support</a> helped him clinch the presidency. Indeed, this is likely to deepen fissures within an already fractious Democratic party. </p><p>Progressives with massive followings, like <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/07/us/politics/aoc-biden-progressives.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez </a>and Senator Bernie Sanders, will likely use their soap boxes to push for broader reform than is achievable given Biden's own centrist leanings and the limitations of a one-vote majority in the Senate. (The Democrats' majority in the House, meanwhile, is one of the <a href="https://history.house.gov/Institution/Party-Divisions/Party-Divisions/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slimmest </a>in history.) </p><p><strong>Reaching across the aisle? </strong>The dust needs to settle before we reach any meaningful conclusions about whether Trump's incessant <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-election/we-won-trump-spreads-misinformation-about-2020-election-during-final-n1252802" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">rallying </a>against "rigged" elections over the past few months depressed Republican turnout in traditionally-red <a href="https://www.270towin.com/states/Georgia" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Georgia,</a> or what Wednesday's insurrection means for the Republican party's post-Trump future. </p><p>What we do know is that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/14/joe-biden-president-republicans-democrats" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Biden plans</a> to reach across the aisle, because he's<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/24/politics/biden-bipartisan-mayors-conference/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"> told us</a> — many times. But will he be able to find a handful of senators from both parties who believe that real compromise and bipartisanship is important for the country's future? And how will all that be affected by this week's events?</p><p><strong>Biden in a bind.</strong> In a time of extreme partisanship, Biden is in a tough spot: the only way he can govern is from the center, but the center is increasingly under assault from both sides of the aisle. </p>
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