Why the latest Georgia round still matters to the Democrats

Democrats will retain a narrow majority in the Senate for the next two years, according to CNN projects, after narrow wins in Nevada and Arizona. Democrats now have 50 seats in the Senate, compared to 49 for Republicans.

In Nevada, CNN predicts that Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, a former attorney general and state attorney general, will defeat Republican Adam Laxalt, her successor in the attorney general’s office and the son and grandson of the former senators.

In Arizona, CNN predicts that Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and husband of former Rep. Gabriel Giffords, will defeat Republican Blake Masters, a venture capitalist who has been endorsed by Trump and backed by tech tycoon and emerging Republican Peter Thiel. .

The Georgia race between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican nominee Herschel Walker is heading into a December runoff after neither candidate crossed the 50% threshold on Tuesday.

Even if Republicans win the Georgia runoff, Vice President Kamala Harris will still vote in the evenly divided Senate to secure a Democratic majority.

Only one Senate seat has changed hands so far in the 2022 midterm elections: Pennsylvania, where Democratic Lieutenant John Fetterman, who campaigned while recovering from a stroke in May, beat Republican Mehmet Oz, a former celebrity doctor endorsed by the president. . . Donald Trump.

Republicans successfully defended their seats in hot races in Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Wisconsin, while Democrats retained their seats in competitive races in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada and New Hampshire.

Learn more about the Democrats’ victory in the Senate: Retaining control of the Senate is a huge boost for President Biden in the final two years of his first term in the White House.

That means Democrats will be able to confirm Biden’s judicial nominees — avoiding scenarios like the one former President Barack Obama faced in 2016, when then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to take a vote on Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. It also means Senate Democrats can defeat House bills and set their own agenda.