By Dr. Bisi Olawunmi
The outcome of America’s midterm elections, in which the Democratic party won control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, sent two clear messages on the consequences of reckless foreign military adventures and economic determinism in voting.
The issue of immigration , while still important, was not on the front burner. Although President Donald Trump was not on the ballot, his blind support for Israel in the war with Iran, and the consequent economic hardship triggered by energy crisis, majorly contributed to the blind-siding defeat of the Republicans, even in their traditional strongholds. Expectedly, President Trump engaged in the bluster that were he on the ballot, it would have been a sweeping victory for Republicans.
Ex President Trump, persecuted for four years by a vengeful President Joe Biden, who succeeded him in controversial circumstances, only for him to regain the presidency in a spectacular election victory just two years ago, must have overrated his appeal with voters, going into the midterm elections. No doubt, he campaigned vigorously for the Republican candidates, but it turned out largely as a futile effort. The damage control from the consequences of his disastrous support for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in his war with Iran came too late to stem voters’ revolt.
Apparently, the war hawks in Washington D.C. must have persuaded Trump that joining Israel to pummel Iran will be a surgical operation, almost a joy ride , which must have informed President Trump’s flamboyant exaggeration of the so-called devastating hits on Iran in the early stages of the war. Trump’s celebration of the killings of Iranian Supreme Leader, Ayatolah Khomeini, and the top echelons of the Iranian military were expected to bring Iran to its knees. It did not happen and amounted to wishful thinking. It was an underestimation of Iranian resilience. Iran then applied strategic counter offensive by closing the Strait of Hormuz, thereby shutting out a critical route for global energy supply, and throwing the global economy into a tailspin. That was when the heat reached the Americans in the homeland and the Iranian war was no longer a distant foreign expedition. Households across America had to endure increasing gasoline prices with consequent effects in spiraling prices across board.
Earlier in the year, the Israeli homicidal, reprisal attacks against Hamas in Gaza with thousands of Palestinians killed, including children, the graphic images of which were brought to American homes, had attracted groundswell of anti-Israel demonstrations. There were agitations that the U.S. must stop funding Israeli war efforts and the 3.8 billion dollars annual aid to Israel. So, for support of the same Israel in its war with Iran to have brought much economic hardship to Americans became a double whammy for Trump. Many of his MAGA disciples abandoned ship and voted for their stomachs. A particularly telling repudiation of the Republican party, and by extension President Trump, was the defeat of its candidates in its traditional stronghold of Texas state. In the senatorial race Democrat, James Talarico, defeated Republican Ken Paxton with 5.4 million votes to 4.2 million votes while Democrat, Gina Hinojosa, defeated incumbent governor, Republican, Greg Abbott, with 5.2 million votes to 4.5 million votes respectively. The Republican party had not lost a major election in Texas in the last 30 years , teaching a lesson that in politics, you cannot take voter loyalty for granted.
Religion is beginning to take centre stage in American politics, with potential ominous consequences for religious harmony. Many Americans insist the U.S. is a Christian country, while many Muslim radicals are rooting for Sharia, setting the stage for a religious clash. Two races signal this tendency, with the election of two Muslims – Ilhan Omar, the Somali-born Democrat who won re-election to the House of Representatives from Minnesota state and Abdul El-Sayed, son of an Egyptian immigrant who won a historic senate race in Michigan state. El-Sayed, 42, defeated Republican Mike Rogers to become the first Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Senate. In recent times, there has been growing resentment among many Americans, particularly American Whites, against radical views of some Muslims. El-Sayed is known to be soft on Sharia and opposes U.S. multi-billion dollar aid to Israel while Omar also hold radical Islamist views. President Trump vigorously campaigned against the two candidates and there is an on-going investigation to find out the legality of how Omar, brought to America by her immigrant Somali father, acquired American citizenship. Omar won the election with 76.48 % of the vote – 262,702 votes to 55,765 votes for Republican John Nagel. Many groups joined in campaign against the two, with – Wake up Michigan – as slogan of one of the anti El-Sayed groups. World’s richest man, Elon Musk, and other Political Action Committees (PACs) were reported to have spent over $150 million in stop El-Sayed campaign and in support of the Republican candidate, Rogers. Still, El-Sayed defeated the Republican candidate, Mike Rogers, by over 300,000 votes – 2,520,388 to 2,180,541. With El-Sayed win, Michigan is assuming historic significance in American politics. It was in Michigan State that leading African-American politician, Rev. Jesse Jackson, made history by winning the Democratic Presidential primary election on March 26, 1988, with 55 % of the vote, defeating front runner, Michael Dukakis, who scored 28 % of the vote. The television networks were agog that March 26 night in effusive coverage of Jesse Jackson’s historic win in a state with 85 % White population while it was celebration galore across Black America. I was resident foreign correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria and filed the story of that landmark victory from NAN office at the National Press Building in Downtown Washington D.C. I later joined the celebration in the night at Adams Morgan area, the hub of African nightclubs , in upper 16th Street NW, D.C. The verdict of the American media was that after Jesse Jackson’s historic Michigan win, American politics will never be the same again, signaling the prospect of a future African-American president in the U.S. Twenty years later, Barack Obama fulfilled that prospect when he was elected president of the United States in 2008. Who knows, El-Sayed, with his similar historic win in Michigan, may be the forerunner of another Michigan Miracle for a future Arab-American U.S. president!
Meanwhile, election post mortem should be sobering to the Republicans, and particularly President Trump, on how they lost both houses of Congress to the Democrats, a development that will give fillip to ultra liberal tendencies.
Republicans hold majority in the current Congress with 53 senate seats to 45 for the Democrats, and 218 Republicans in the House of Representatives to 214 for Democrats. These will change by January 3, 2027 when the new Congress is inaugurated reflecting the Midterm election standing of the parties, which as at November 9, 2026 stood at 54 senate seats and 254 House seats for Democrats and 44 senate seats and 163 House seats for Republicans, leaving two senate seats and 18 House seats ouitstanding . The senate has 100 seats while the House of Representatives has 435 seats. The U.S. midterm elections have shown that when a people face harsh economic conditions, no amount of propaganda or party loyalty can sway the electorate, particularly in a literate population, from voting in its own interest. This is in contrast to developing countries where illiteracy, compounded by religious and ethnic sentiments, make people to often vote for their enslavement.
For President Donald Trump , it is tragic that a peace president in his first term allowed himself to be railroaded into a needless, costly war with Iran. The challenge for him now is how to get out of the Iranian quagmire without being further disgraced. He will also have to learn to work with a potentially hostile Democratic controlled Congress for the remaining two years of his White House tenure. While one won’t expect him to be prostrate before the Democrats, dangling executive veto is also not a viable option, as that can only aggravate America’s polarisation. He would, therefore, need to explore a middle way, a give and take, for the healing of the American polity.
Dr. Bisi Olawunmi, an Associate Professor, Department of Mass Communication, Adeleke University, Ede, is a former Washington Correspondent of the News Agency of Nigeria. Email – olawunmibisi@yahoo.com PHONE , SMS ONLY 0803 364 7571.
