US Midterm Elections
Hey everyone! The United States midterm elections happened last week on Tuesday (8 November, 2022), and here’s what you might have missed.
So, the elections are run every two years, and when they fall in the middle of a Presidential term (which is 4 years), they are called midterms. In these elections, candidates for both chambers of Congress - The House of Representatives and The Senate are up for election. The House of Representatives introduces laws in the form of Bills, while The Senate can block or approve them - as well as other roles, associated with the President.
There are two major parties in the US, the Democratic Party (the Democrats) and the Republican Party (the Republicans). The Democrats are more left-leaning on the political spectrum and promote a large government role in providing social and economic welfare to Americans, while the Republicans are more right-leaning and are seeking to provide low taxes, a laissez-faire (encouraging a free market with no regulations) approach to capitalism and they are socially conservative.
Catch up on the ongoing election race here!!
So, we know the result - but what does this actually mean in practice? There are some key issues that have been focused on at this election such as action on climate change, housing affordability, healthcare, and the COVID-19 response. In terms of climate change - the Democrats are looking to aid the climate crisis and focus on prevention in the future. The Party aims to do this by making more investments in clean energy, making energy more efficient, increasing clean transport and developing sustainable agriculture. Alongside their investments, they plan to install 500 million solar panels and 60,000 wind turbines within the next 5 years, as well as all new buildings being net-zero by 2030. However, with a conservative government - there will not be nearly as much tangible climate action. Earlier in 2022, there was a court decision, West Virginia v the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which ensured that the EPA, unfortunately, does not have ‘Congressional authority’ to limit emissions at pre-existing powerplants, but can continue to regulate emissions at plants with the use of emissions reductions technologies. In July 2022, US Senator Joe Manchin also announced that there would be an end to Senate negotiations over major climate legislation. The Congressional Republicans haven’t embraced Biden’s policy ideas, but the party has largely accepted that climate change is occurring.
During the respective Party Annual General Meetings (AGMs), both Democrats and Republicans discussed how they were going to combat the housing affordability crisis, as well as their stances on healthcare. Neither Party explained in detail what their policies will include, but just their general thoughts. The Democrats discussed how they could address the long-lasting impact of COVID-19 on housing affordability, the eviction crisis, systematic and historic racism in housing, investments in the National Housing Trust Fund and Public Housing - as well as how they work towards implementing universal healthcare. At the Republican AGM, they discussed incentives for home ownership instead of renting, regulatory changes, and minimising the federal role in zoning decisions - as well as maintaining their ‘no universal healthcare’ standpoint.
Neither Party has particularly focused on young people or citizens from diverse backgrounds, but hopefully, in the future, these issues will arise in their respective agendas.