By: Maggie Barclay
Everyone saw at least one of the 100,000 ads trying to get them to vote for Kay Hagan or Thom Tillis. After a very close race, Republican Tillis caught the edge over Democrat Hagan, winning a seat in the United States Senate.
Running for a seat in the Senate is an expensive venture. Hagan and Tillis spent a combined 100 million dollars to fund their campaigns. That is the highest amount spent on one state’s political campaigns across the nation this year. The majority of this money was spent on radio, internet and television advertisements, as well as signs along the road. According to the Center for Public Integrity, a staggering 100,000 television ads have been run in North Carolina to rally voters.
So why is it important to care about the midterm elections? Voters who think these elections are not as important as term elections are mistaken. The midterm elections determine who has a seat in the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, as well as the State Senate and State House of Representatives. Tillis’s spot in the United States Senate secures a 53 seat majority for Republicans. Also, out of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, Republicans now hold a majority of 248 seats. The Republican party has gained control of Congress, which could possibly lead to more conservative decisions being pushed through.
After this big change in Congress, Americans were eager to hear what President Obama would say in response. In a press conference on November 6, 2014, the President commented on his plans for working with Congress. The President said, “There’s not going to be perfect overlap. I mean, there are going to be some ideas that I’ve got that I think the evidence backs up would be good for the economy, and Republicans disagree. They’re not going to support those ideas. But I’m going to keep on arguing for them because I think they’re the right thing for the country to do. There are going to be some ideas that they’ve got that they believe will improve the economy or create jobs that, from my perspective, isn’t going to help middle-class families improve their economic situation, so I probably won’t support theirs.”
With the largest Republican majority since President Truman’s administration, the Republicans are excited about their new lead. Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has voiced his excitement about this change in leadership, saying that it is time for change.
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