WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) – Like the White House, the balance of power in Congress is also in the hands of voters. Democrats are defending their one seat majority in the Senate, while Republicans are trying to hold onto four seats to keep their majority in the House.
“The Congressional race is just as interesting and just as much on a knife’s edge,” says George Washington University professor and political analyst Todd Belt.
Belt says Republicans are poised to take the Senate.
Sen. Joe Manchin (R-W.Va.) is retiring, all but guaranteeing a victory for West Virgina Republican Governor Jim Justice. The GOP only needs to pick up one more seat to flip the upper chamber.
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) is in a tough re-election bid against Republican challenger Tim Sheehy.
Sen. Sherrod Brown, another Democrat incumbent in a red state is neck and neck with his Republican opponent Bernie Monroe in Ohio.
“This is a tough, tough environment for Democrats,” says Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, “but I believe we will hold.”
Harrison says whichever party controls Congress will either serve as cooperation or a check on the next president.
If former president Donald Trump prevails this election, he says Congress will be vital to protect “the rights of the American people from someone who wants to be a dictator on day one.”
Harrison says Democrats have any easier path to victory in the House and expects Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to take the gavel as the first Black Speaker of the House in January.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is determined to keep his slim majority. In the weeks leading up to Election Day, Johnson has crisscrossed the country to campaign on behalf of several vulnerable Republican House members.
Belt says Democrats are targeting Republican seats in New York and California, where President Joe Biden won in 2020.
