Nov. 8 (UPI) — Control of the House of Representatives was too close to call late Tuesday, as vote counting continued into the night, with some early races won by Republicans backed by former President Donald Trump.
Republicans only need to gain only five seats in the chamber to capture a majority from Democrats.
National talking points such as rising inflation and an economy on the verge of recession drove Republican campaigns during the midterm cycle.
The GOP picked up two new seats in Florida as a result of redistricting, winning districts 13 and 15. Anna Luna and Laurel Lee won those districts respectively. Luna is a newcomer to office while Lee served as secretary of state.
Republicans saw the midterms as an opportunity to rebuke the efforts of the Democrat-controlled house, and more largely the work of President Joe Biden in his first two years in office, particularly in response to rising inflation driving higher gas prices and grocery bills.
Some of Biden’s loudest critics — also some of Republicans most loyal to former President Donald Trump — held onto their seats, including Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor-Greene of Georgia, both of whom were endorsed by the former president.
In Colorado, however, staunch Trump supporter Lauren Boebert trailed Democratic challenger Adam Frisch by several thousands votes. According to the state’s unofficial results, Boebert had 48.17% of the vote to Frisch’s 51.8% in the race for District 3.
Taylor-Greene, one of the more incendiary politicians in Congress who has espoused conspiracy theories, including those of QAnon and the “big lie” that the 2020 general election was stolen from Trump, handily won re-election, with the race for Georgia’s District 14 called by NBC News, CNN and local Atlanta News First.
With nearly 73% of votes counted, Greene secured 66.7% of the vote to long-shot Democratic challenger Marcus Flowers’ 33.2%, according to unofficial state results.
Flowers, a former Army veteran, lost despite having raised $15.6 million for the contest, which trumped Greene’s nearly $12 million, according to the Federal Election Commission data.
Similarly, incumbent Gaetz handily defeated Democratic challenger Rebekah Jones for Florida’s House Seat 1. The race was called by NBC, CNN and local WFTV9.
Gaetz had been dogged by a federal sex-trafficking investigation until late September when the Justice Department signaled it wouldn’t recommend charges against him. He has denied the allegations.
He won his fourth House election Tuesday, earning nearly 68% of the vote to Jones’ 32.4% with nearly 85% of ballots counted. Gaetz had a war chest of some $6.2 million, which far outpaced Jones’ at less than $1 million, according to federal data.
For Democrats, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, voting rights and to a degree human rights were on the ballot. Some also considered the midterm elections a referendum on the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, the culmination of a disinformation campaign by Trump and his supporters to deny his 2020 election loss.
Trump stumped for or endorsed a number of Republican candidates across the country, including Luna, Boebert, Gaetz and Taylor-Greene.
