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Power Shift

Spanish Translation

By Nellie Gonzalez Cutler
With TIME Reporting

Democrats won big on November 7. For the first time since 1994, they gained control of the House of Representatives and the Senate. "It was a thumping," said President George W. Bush, a Republican, about his party's losses.

All 435 seats in the House were up for grabs. Members serve two-year terms. Democrats picked up at least 28 seats, far more than the 15 needed to seize the House. Democratic control means that Representative Nancy Pelosi will most likely become the first female Speaker of the House. "We have made history," said Pelosi, who is from San Francisco, California.

Democrats needed to gain six Republican-held seats to win the Senate, which they last controlled in 2002. Senators serve six-year terms. Only one-third of the country's senators are up for election at one time. This year, 33 seats were in play. Democrats ousted Republicans in Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia.

The Edge
Many of the contests were bitterly fought and the margins of victory were razor-thin. In Virginia, Democrat Jim Webb declared victory over Republican Senator George Allen. "The votes are in and we won," Webb said. About 7,000 votes out of 2.3 million separated the candidates. Webb, a Vietnam War veteran and former Secretary of the Navy, is highly critical of the war in Iraq.

Two candidates who ran as independents--neither Republican nor Democrat--won Senate seats. Vermont voters chose Bernie Sanders. Joe Lieberman, who is serving a third term as a Democratic senator for Connecticut, was rejected by his party in the primaries. So, he ran as an independent. Both Sanders and Lieberman are expected to side with Democrats on major issues. That gives Democrats the edge in the Senate. Still, a simple majority is not enough to pass measures. It takes 60 votes to force decisions on most issues.

Voters chose governors in 36 of the 50 states. Democrats won 20 of the races, and will hold 28 of the top jobs. The party that controls the governors' mansions is particularly important in the years before a Presidential election. Democrat Deval Patrick won in Massachusetts. He will be the state's first African-American governor. There were a few bright spots for Republicans. They won in California, Florida and Texas.

Surveys of voters showed that many citizens were unhappy with the Republican Party. About six in 10 voters said the nation was headed in the wrong direction. They expressed concerns about the war in Iraq and President Bush's performance. The day after the election, Bush announced that he was replacing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Scandal and accusations of corruption also hurt many Republican candidates.

A Patchwork of Voting Styles
More than 79 million Americans went to the polls, and cast their ballots in many different ways. A record number of voters--90%--either cast their vote on a computer or had it counted that way. As expected, there were a few glitches, but most were minor. "People can be confident of the outcome," said Doug Chapin, who works for a group that monitors voting problems.

The Next Election
After all the votes are counted, politicians look ahead to the next big contest--the 2008 Presidential election. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, who scored a huge reelection victory in New York, and Senator Barack Obama, of Illinois, may be Democratic contenders. On the Republican side, Arizona Senator John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani may throw their hats into the ring.

For now, the power shift in Congress means that lawmakers must compromise. "We are prepared to govern," Pelosi said. "We will do so working together with the administration and the Republicans in Congress." Bush echoed her words. "It is our responsibility to put the elections behind us and work together," he said.

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