Election Day ended with a lot of crucial races uncalled, and who controls the Senate may remain unknown for a long time — maybe not even until December, if the Georgia Senate race goes to a runoff. But a few preliminary judgments are possible.
First, Republicans avoided the worst possible defeat. My hunch is that commentary is going to dwell instead, understandably, on the fact that they aren’t making the big wins they had increasingly been expecting. But Democrats were trying to retain the House and expand their Senate majority, and during the summer that scenario sometimes looked plausible.
If it had happened, Democrats would have been able to pass far-reaching liberal legislation on such issues as election law and abortion policy. Now it appears that Democrats will not have the votes to pass major partisan legislation. They won’t replicate their legislative victories of the last two years, let alone surpass them. And the legislative difference between a Republican ripple and a Republican wave is not that large: With President Joe Biden in the White House and Democrats holding the power to filibuster, Republican bills aren’t becoming law either way.
