Harris or Trump?
American voters will decide on that next Tuesday, and early voting is already on in full swing in different states.
Attention is focused almost exclusively on the campaigns of the presidential candidates and the extremely tight race, but the battle for power is also ongoing in the US Congress. In Finnish, one can talk about the parliament, where laws are enacted and political debates take place.
The lower house of Congress, the 435-seat House of Representatives, dominate currently with a slim majority by Republicans, while the upper house, the 100-seat Senate, is narrowly led by Democrats with the help of non-aligned senators.
The Republican leadership will show up already quite sure of his victory in Congress, even though there is a race for seats hard – just like the management of the White House.
One option could be that the president is from a different party than the majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
But what will happen if the Republicans, led by Trump, win the presidency, the House and the Senate? Or what if Harris and his troops pulled the same trick?
Five interesting questions are answered by a professor of North American studies Benita Heiskanen from the University of Turku.
First of all, Heiskanen states that the role of Congress is central, and without cooperation with Congress, the president cannot function effectively.
1. If Republicans take control of the President, House, and Senate, what would that mean?
That would be quite a trump card for the president, and it would be easier for him to promote his own initiatives. For example, Trump and Obama had such a situation during their first two years in office.
Often that means trying to ram through major reforms in the first two years, because statistically the party of the sitting president often loses mid-term elections.
2. What would be different if Trump was elected and got the entire Congress behind him again, like after the 2016 election?
First of all, the victory then came as a surprise to Trump. He had no plan and no idea of how massive a job it would be to name the officials of the administration, for example. He talked about the beginning of the previous season in an interview with Joe Rogan last weekend.
Now he has a strong background team that has made detailed plans about who will be appointed to which position. Trump also has an idea about how to cut down the state administration, and for example the abolition of the Ministry of Education has been on the agenda.
Trump may not be able to implement his projects to the extent he wants, because some decisions require a majority of 60 senators. But all in all, it will be challenging for the Democrats to put up a fight against the Republicans if the three-way scenario comes true.
3. Trump’s presidency close circle has warned that Trump is a fascist. How big a risk to American democracy would it be if the Republicans now got all three houses?
If the people decide so, then democracy has been realized. Democracy is about people’s power and voting results. One could raise the question of whether the US electoral system is democratic, because the result is not based on citizens’ votes, but on the electoral system.
There may be many threats, and the state administration may be fundamentally changed.
4. What effects would a Republican triple victory have on US foreign policy?
In Congress, the Republicans have a strong concentration of people who do not want to support Ukraine. In their opinion, the money should be channeled to the home country. Trump has been branded in this election as a president of peace who could end wars with a single phone call.
Israel’s support would continue because Republicans have traditionally supported the country. Trump has criticized the multilateral system and in his last term favored one-on-one negotiations with different countries.
5. What if the Democrats won the White House and also the Congress, how would that change the current situation?
First of all, it would be a big surprise, because in the Senate elections, the Democrats have a difficult place due to the withdrawal of some senators. The race for the House of Representatives is even, but the Democrats have a lot to catch up there as well.
If the Democrats win, they would continue the current administration’s multilateral foreign policy. A key issue pushed by the Democrats would be the right to abortion, which has featured a lot in Kamala Harris’ election campaign.
Here you can access ‘s US presidential election website.
Watch videos of Harris and Trump’s recent appearances: