As the last of the midterm election results trickle in, it looks likely that the Democrats have retained control of the Senate, but the Republicans will have a slight majority in Congress. As with all bourgeois democracy it is a foregone conclusion that the ruling class will stay in power. With these results, there will be bi-partisan support for US imperial interests, especially support for Israel, containment of Russia and China, and the plundering of resources from the oppressed nations, along with worsening conditions for the working class in the US.
Midterm elections are held in the middle of every presidential term, where a third of Senate seats, all Congress seats, and State Governors are elected. Typical midterms go against the party of the incumbent president and were expected to this year, especially given President Biden’s low personal ratings. However, the predicted Republican ‘Red Wave’ onslaught never materialised. For a lot of women and young people, abortion and the overturning of Roe vs Wade was the single most prominent issue encouraging them to vote against the Republicans, whose states have passed the worst anti-abortion legislation this year. The climate crisis was also a critical issue for this demographic. With the under-30 turnout being the second highest ever, albeit at only 27%, this did influence the results.
Although at the time of the elections former president Trump had not announced his intention to run for the presidency in 2024, he was heavily involved in campaigning for candidates, but those he endorsed did very poorly, especially in the Senate elections. This prompted some Republicans to distance themselves from Trump and move closer to the reactionary Florida governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis infamously used state money to fly Venezuelan immigrants unannounced to the island of Martha’s Vineyard in September 2022 on false promises of employment and accommodation. DeSantis also campaigned against school closures and other mitigation measures in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As well as voting for Senators, members of Congress and Governors, in some states there were additional popular initiatives on the ballots. Voters in Kentucky and Montana rejected an anti-abortion initiative, and in Michigan, California and Vermont constitutional amendments to guarantee abortion rights were overwhelmingly approved. In Illinois there was a victory in a referendum to amend the state constitution to prevent anti-union ‘right to work’ laws. Massachusetts voted for increased tax for incomes above $1m, and South Dakota voted to expand Medicaid coverage. Nevada, Nebraska, and Washington DC all voted for increases to the minimum wage.
As journalist Blake Fleetwood shows in his article for online news outlet ScheerPost (November 2022): ‘The majority of Americans are in harmony on the major issues: Medicare for all (69%), more taxes on the rich (80%), free college (58%), take money out of politics (78%), legal abortion (62%), climate crisis (75%), minimum wage increase (62%), paid family leave (70%), legal marijuana (91%), support for unions (71%), Equal Rights Amendment for women (78%), ending mass incarceration (71%), free pre-K+ [nursery] (71%), stopping voter suppression (71%), and more gun control (70%).’[1] In other words, the population’s views are anathema to the interests of monopoly capital.
However, the ruling class stays in power by design, having created a ‘democracy’ for its purposes. In elections for the Senate, Congress, and Governors the choices are restricted by big money and mainstream propaganda and the outcomes are limited due to gerrymandering, voter suppression and intimidation. It is estimated that $16.7bn was spent on the midterm elections (a record amount, up from 2018 when the total was $13.7bn in current dollars), with 38% of that coming from the richest 1% (with estimates of between $1bn and $2.5bn coming from billionaires alone, just 0.0002% of the population). The billionaires spread their money 60-40% in favour of the Republicans, hedging their bets so that whoever wins is owned by them.
With this incredible amount of money and the Republican/Democrat monopoly on state power they can legislate to re-district areas (gerrymandering), restrict the ability of third-party candidates to stand and to enforce voter suppression. The Democrats blocked access to the ballot for the Green Party of North Carolina and seven independents in New York. 14 states attempted (some successfully) to empower law enforcement agencies to investigate suspected election crimes. 19 states introduced bills to outlaw postal votes, some punishable with jail terms, and 12 states tried to increase the penalties for existing election crimes, some increasing offences from misdemeanours to felonies. Other acts of voter suppression have included voter ID requirements, purging voter rolls, blocking people with past felony convictions, and closing polling places. Research has shown these practices make it more difficult for black, Hispanic, poorer, and younger voters.
Intimidation has been rife in these elections. In Florida, DeSantis widely publicised the arrest of 20 residents for voting in the 2020 elections due to them having felony convictions. The prosecutions are problematic. In some cases election officials had sent them voter registration cards; nevertheless, the point was to sow confusion and fear. In Detroit, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh people received automatic phone calls stating if they voted by mail (increasingly popular since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic), their personal details would be passed to the police and debt collectors. In Arizona, ‘volunteers’ in camo and body-armour, some openly displaying weapons, confronted and recorded voters at ballot drop boxes in a blatant form of intimidation. As by design, voter turnout fell from 50% in 2018 to 46%. This is bourgeois democracy in all its glory.
David Hetfield
[1] https://scheerpost.com/2022/11/02/democrats-are-ignoring-the-death-blow-to-the-middle-class
