Zurück zum "Divided Government": Die US-amerikanischen Kongresswahlen vom 8. November 2022

In: Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen: ZParl, Band 54, Heft 1, S. 3-22

Abstract

The 2022 Congressional elections have ended with ambivalent results . Typically, the party of the governing president loses seats in midterm elections, sometimes several dozens . In this regard, President Joe Biden and his party managed to achieve a surprisingly good result . While his Democrats lost their narrow majority to Republicans in the U .S . House of Rep- resentatives, they succeeded in keeping their equally narrow majority in the U .S . Senate . In the 118th Congress, Washington will be dominated by "divided government", meaning one party has control over the House and the other party dominates the Senate and the White House . In regard to its composition, the new Congress is more diverse than ever . The elec- tion of Republican Kevin McCarthy as new speaker after 15 ballots indicates that, due to its heterogenous membership, it will be very hard in the upcoming two years to secure majori- ties for far reaching legislative projects . Republicans have already announced that they will focus on investigating various policy areas of the Biden administration as well as the presi- dent and his family himself . After last year's midterm election, all eyes will be on the con- gressional and presidential elections of 2024 which will overshadow current political devel- opments in the United States .