PHOENIX, Arizona: Incumbent Democrat Mark Kelly defeated Republican Blake Masters on Friday to win a US Senate seat in Arizona, a contest that left Democrats one seat short in the battle for control of the chamber with two more races to be decided.
The win by Kelly, a former astronaut whose wife, Gabby Giffords, survived an assassination attempt when she was a US lawmaker, meant Democrats had battled to a 49-49 tie in the race for the Senate.
“I’m humbled by the trust our state has placed in me to continue this work,” Kelly said on Twitter.
Control of the Senate — and the shape of President Joe Biden’s next two years in office — will now hinge on contests in Nevada and Georgia. Biden’s party avoided historical trends by limiting their losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections, shocking Republicans who had expected big gains.
Democrats needed one more seat for control, since Vice President Kamala Harris can cast the tie-breaking vote.
In Nevada, incumbent Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto had closed to within about 800 votes of the Republican state attorney general, Adam Laxalt. Georgia’s outcome is weeks away as Democratic incumbent Senator Raphael Warnock will face Republican Herschel Walker in a Dec. 6 runoff.
In the Nevada governor’s race, Republican Joe Lombardo defeated Democrat Steve Sisolak, Edison Research projected. Sisolak conceded the race.
“Whether you voted for me or Sheriff Lombardo, it is important that we now come together to continue moving the state forward,” Sisolak said in a statement posted on Twitter. “That is why I reached out to the sheriff to wish him success.”
Political analysts anticipate a rush of campaign funds into Georgia as Republicans and Democrats gear up for the final battle of the 2022 midterm elections.
In Arizona, law enforcement officials remained on high alert for potential protests, with barricades and security fencing erected around the Maricopa County elections department, where dozens of officials are working 18-hour days to verify outstanding ballots and tabulate votes.
Kari Lake, the Republican candidate for Arizona governor, has criticized election officials in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, as “incompetent” and “despicable,” accusing them of deliberately delaying the vote counting.
Bill Gates, chairperson of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors and a Republican, bristled at Lake’s comments. “Everybody needs to calm down a little bit and turn down the rhetoric. That’s the problem with what’s going on with our country right now,” he told reporters.
In the fight for control of the House of Representatives, Republicans were inching closer to becoming the majority and ending four years of rule by Democrats. That would give Republicans veto power over Democrat Biden’s legislative agenda and allow them to launch potentially damaging investigations into his administration.
Republicans had secured at least 211 of the 218 House seats they need for a majority, Edison Research projected late on Thursday, while Democrats had won 199. Many of the races where winners have not yet been determined are in Arizona, California and Washington state.
Despite the real possibility that they may lose the House, Democrats have still cheered their success in curbing their predicted losses after they galvanized voters angry over the Supreme Court’s decision in June to overturn the constitutional right to an abortion.
The Republican House leader, Kevin McCarthy, has already announced his intention to run for speaker if Republicans take over, an outcome he has described as inevitable.
It is unclear whether a challenger to McCarthy will emerge, but some of the most conservative House Republicans have expressed doubts that he has enough votes yet to become speaker, the most powerful official in the House.
Meanwhile, Republican infighting in the Senate broke into the open on Friday as senators urged the postponement of a Wednesday leadership election so that they have time to discuss why the party did not fare better on Tuesday.
Mitch McConnell is hoping to continue as Republican leader, despite sniping from former President Donald Trump and other conservatives.
Officials overseeing vote counting in the Arizona and Nevada Senate races, where Democratic incumbents are trying to fend off Republican challengers, have said it could take until next week to tally some 520,000 uncounted mail-in ballots. Most of those were in Maricopa County, which encompasses Phoenix.
Their work is slowed by the need to match signatures on mail-in ballots to voter registration signatures after high numbers of such votes were dropped off on Election Day.
Some of Trump’s most high-profile endorsed candidates lost pivotal races on Tuesday, marring his status as Republican kingmaker and leading several Republicans to blame his divisive brand for the party’s disappointing performance.
The outcome may increase the chances that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who routed his Democratic challenger on Tuesday, opts to challenge Trump for the 2024 presidential nomination.
While Trump has not officially launched a third White House campaign, the former president has strongly suggested he will do so and is planning a “special announcement” at his Florida club on Tuesday.
US midterm elections: Kelly’s win in Arizona leaves Democrats one seat shy of Senate control
https://arab.news/6bh2x
US midterm elections: Kelly’s win in Arizona leaves Democrats one seat shy of Senate control
- Control of the Senate — and the shape of President Joe Biden’s next two years in office — will now hinge on contests in Nevada and Georgia
- Biden’s party avoided historical trends by limiting their losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections, shocking Republicans who had expected big gains
What to know about the Israeli president’s state visit to Australia
- Netanyahu had been outraged by Australia’s decision four months earlier to join France, Britain and Canada in recognizing a Palestinian state
MELBOURNE, Australia: The stated purpose of Israel President Isaac Herzog’s visit to Australia is to support the Jewish community still reeling from an antisemitic attack at Sydney’s Bondi Beach that left 15 dead. But his critics warn his presence undermines rather than repairs social cohesion frayed by the far away war in Gaza.
Protest rallies are expected to follow the president, who performs a largely ceremonial role as head of state, as he travels to Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra over four days starting Monday. Some critics demand he be arrested in Australia on suspicion of inciting genocide in Gaza.
He is the first Israeli head of state to visit Australia since Reuven Rivlin in 2020. Herzog’s father, Chaim Herzog, also visited Australia as Israel’s president in 1986.
Here’s what to know:
The Australian visit comes at a time of extraordinary bilateral tensions
Within hours of two gunmen allegedly inspired by the Daesh group launching their attack in Sydney on Dec. 14 last year, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese, posting on social media “your call for a Palestinian state pours fuel on the antisemitic fire.”
Netanyahu had been outraged by Australia’s decision four months earlier to join France, Britain and Canada in recognizing a Palestinian state.
Netanyahu has repeatedly sought to link widespread calls for a Palestinian state, and criticism of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, to growing incidents of antisemitism worldwide.
Albanese has accused Netanyahu of being “in denial” over the humanitarian consequences of war in Gaza. Netanyahu has branded the Australian a “weak politician who betrayed Israel and abandoned Australia’s Jews.”
Australian Jews have appealed to both leaders to restore “diplomatic norms” to a bilateral relationship that had been friendly for decades.
Albanese has made clear his government’s invitation to Herzog to make that state visit was the idea of Jewish leaders.
“President Herzog is coming particularly to engage with members of the Jewish community who are grieving the loss of 15 innocent lives,” Albanese said.
“People should recognize the solemn nature of the engagement that President Herzog will have with the community of Bondi in particular, and bear that in mind by the way that they respond over coming weeks,” he added.
Jewish leaders welcome Herzog’s visit
Sydney-based Jewish leader Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, said his community “warmly anticipates” Herzog’s arrival.
“His visit will lift the spirits of a pained community and we hope will lead to a much-needed recalibration of bilateral relations between two historic allies,” Ryvchin said.
“President Herzog is a patriot and a person of dignity and compassion and holds an office that is above party politics. He is a person who has sadly had to comfort families, police and first responders after terrorist attacks many times, and will know how to reassure and fortify our community in its darkest time,” he added.
Ryvchin is one of the Australian Jewish leaders who have accused Albanese’s center-left Labour Party government of not doing enough to curb an increase in antisemitism in Sydney and Melbourne, where 85 percent of Australia’s Jewish population live, since the Israel-Hamas war began in 2023.
Herzog sees opportunity to reset relations
Herzog, a former head of Israel’s centrist Labour Party, now holds a job meant to serve as a unifier and moral compass for all Israelis. A onetime rival of Netanyahu, he has good working relations with the prime minister.
Ahead of his visit, Herzog told The Associated Press that the “primary reason” for the trip was to stand with Australia’s Jewish community as the representative of all Israelis.
“From thousands of miles away in Israel, we feel the deep pain of our Jewish Australian sisters and brothers. I am coming to show them our love and support at this devastating time,” he said.
But Herzog also said the visit is an opportunity “to reinvigorate relations” between Israel and Australia.
“There is a long history of partnership between our two nations and deeply held shared values,” he said, adding that the visit “offers a chance to reignite the longstanding bipartisan support for ties between Israel and Australia.”
“I hope to be able to communicate this message of goodwill and friendship to the Australian people, and dispel many of the lies and misinformation spread about Israel over the last two years,” he said.
Israel’s critics have called for Herzog’s invitation to be withdrawn
“This is one of the most divisive figures in the world. Bringing him to Australia will undermine social cohesion, it will not rebuild it. It will increase division, it will not bring about national unity,” Australian human rights lawyer Chris Sidoti said. Sidoti described the invitation as a ”crazy idea.”
Sidoti was one of three experts appointed by the UN’s Human Rights Council to an inquiry that reported in September last year that Herzog, Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had incited the commission of genocide in Gaza.
The findings carry no legal consequence and Israel has rejected genocide allegations against the country as antisemitic “blood libel.” Sidoti and other lawyers say Australian police could potentially arrest Herzog on suspicion of inciting genocide, which is a crime under Australian law as well as international law. Australian Federal Police have declined to comment.
A lawmaker in Albanese’s government, Ed Husic, said he was “very uncomfortable” with Herzog’s visit. Husic, a Muslim and vocal critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, said he was “concerned that a figure like that doesn’t necessarily enhance social cohesion.”
Some state government lawmakers from Albanese’s Labour Party have said they will join a protest in downtown Sydney on Monday planned by the Palestine Action Group activist organization.
“We need to send a clear message to our government and to the world … we are fundamentally opposed to this tour, which is designed to normalize genocide,” protest organizer Josh Lees said.
Police prepare to use enhanced powers of arrest to control protesters in Sydney
In response to the Bondi shooting, the New South Wales state parliament rushed through legislation increasing police powers to arrest protesters in the aftermath of a declared terrorist attack.
New South Wales Premier Chris Minns said a heightened police response in Sydney during Herzog’s visit was necessary to ensure safety.
“We will have thousands of mourners and thousands of protesters as well as a visiting head of state all in the same city at the same time. And we’ve got a responsibility to keep people safe in those circumstances,” Minns said.
“Every international city anywhere in the world would apply exactly the same geographical restrictions so that the two groups don’t meet and as a result there’s not a major confrontation,” Minns added.
