For the first time since 1994, Democrats gained the majority in
the House of Representatives on Tuesday, but as of 12:30 a.m.
today, the balance in the Senate remains uncertain.
As of press time, the races in Virginia between Republican
incumbent George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb, and in Missouri
between Republican incumbent Conrad Burns and Democrat Jon Tester,
are still undetermined. The final results could take days to
tally.
The Republicans and Democrats each control 49 seats in the
Senate, as it is assumed the two independent senators will caucus
with the Democrats.
A 50-50 tie would be broken by Vice President Dick Cheney, so
the Democrats have to win both contested seats to win a majority.
The slim margin that separates candidates in Virgina and Missouri
may be cause for a recount.
In California, Sen. Dianne Feinstein was reelected for her third
term with 55 percent of the vote.
Having held his seat since 1975, Representative Henry Waxman of
the 30th district was also reelected. Waxman is a UCLA
graduate.
Democrats won 227 seats and were ahead in another 12 races.
Republicans, who hold 229 seats in the current House, won 191 seats
and were leading in another 12.
Democrats have won 26 Republican-controlled seats.
A Democratic majority in the house means California
Representative Nancy Pelosi could be the first female majority
leader in the House. This position in the line of succession would
make her closer to the presidency than any woman has come.
“Today we have made history,” she said. “Now
let us make progress.”
No Democratic incumbents in either branch of Congress lost their
seats.
“It’s been kind of tough out there,” conceded
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who won an 11th term but will
lose the role of speaker.
Political Science Professor Matthew Baum said a Democratic
takeover of the Senate will give the party some advantages but may
not make a huge difference.
“Even if they do take over Senate, they’re not going
to be changing a lot of laws in the country, just stymieing
Bush,” Baum said. “They can do that with just one
house.”
The biggest effect of the shift in party power will be the end
of Bush’s ability to be on the offense domestically, he
said.
Baum does not expect a radical change in policy regarding the
Iraq war, given the strong control over foreign policy that lies in
the hands of the presidency.
“At the end of the day, if George Bush decides we’re
staying (in) Iraq … we’re staying,” he said.
Former Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis
attributed the power shift to issues surrounding the Iraq war, as
well as the issues of corruption that have plagued the Republican
Party.
“People are just unhappy,” he said. “The war
is going badly. It’s getting worse. … People just
don’t see an exit.”
“I think there is a sense there is a culture of corruption
in Washington,” Dukakis said.
Baum also said corruption issues held some weight in the
election.
“It may not be at the absolute top of the agenda, (but) it
stole a lot of the oxygen from the White House,” Baum
said.
He said it is unclear how much noise the Democrats will make
regarding the corruption scandals and pre-war intelligence now that
they hold the majority.
Baum predicted the partisan split in control of the branches of
government will make the next two years “pretty
ugly.”
“The Democrats’ left-leaning base is going to be
bloodthirsty,” he said.
Baum said there are going to be investigations done by the
Democrats, but the question is whether they will be peripheral or
aggressively attack things like pre-war intelligence and the
president.
When the Republicans won control of Congress in 1994, they
completely marginalized the Democrats, he said.
“The Republicans really turned the screws,” he said.
“As you can imagine, there are lot of Democrats who want
revenge.”
The question is whether the Democrats will do the same or act so
they can say they took the high road toward reconciliation, he
said.
At UCLA, about 25 members of the Bruin Democrats gathered to
watch the results announced on television.
“We”˜re really optimistic. The results look very
good,” said Gabe Rose, Bruin Democrats president.
Bruin Republicans had a similar gathering, where secretary Jimmy
Dunn said they had expected to lose the House.
“It either means we’ll be bickering, getting nothing
done, or we’ll talk to each other and get good stuff
done,” he said.
With reports from Bruin wire services and Abigail Palmer,
Helen Yim and Saba Riazati, Bruin staff.