WASHINGTON -- Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan and a Joe Biden ally behind efforts to shut down the Canadian Cross-border Line 5 pipeline, was re-elected Tuesday in a midterm election that demonstrated a surprising level of Democrat resilience.
Whitmer narrowly defeated Republican challenger Tudor Dixon, a steel industry insider turned conservative commentator, in the only midterm election contest with direct implications for Canada-US relations.
Dixon called Justin Trudeau "the most radical environmentalist in the world" when he attacked the 5 line in last month's debate with Whitmer, whose only defense is that plans to fortify the two underwater lines are fast-paced.
The Michigan battle was just one of 506 gubernatorial, House and Senate elections that came to fruition Tuesday in a midterm battle that pollsters and experts predict will be a bruised indictment against the Biden administration.
That didn't happen - at least not on the scale Republicans hoped.
They are on track to reclaim control of the House of Representatives, the only political prize most observers believe, given the traditional pattern of part-time voters punishing the party that holds the White House.
"It's clear that we're going to take the House back," said minority leader Kevin McCarthy, who is widely expected to take the speaker's hammer from Nancy Pelosi if that happens.
"You came out late, but when you wake up tomorrow, we will be the majority and Nancy Pelosi will be the minority."
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From the start, Democrats managed to keep a pair of House seats in Virginia, the state where Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin won last year even though Biden won a convincing 10 points there in 2020.
Later, Kathy Hochul won in her bid for a first full term as governor of New York, despite strong Republican challenges. Soon, Donald Trump devotee Kari Lake, following her bid to become governor of Arizona, was weeping over election misconduct.
And in Pennsylvania, Lt.-Gov. John Fetterman, who was sidelined for much of the summer with a stroke that affected his speech and raised questions about his fitness for office, earned a narrow but critical victory over Dr. Mehmet Oz, another Trump aide.
"I'm not really sure what to say now," a humble-looking Fetterman, donning his trademark black hoodie, told supporters.
"This campaign has always been about fighting for everyone who's been knocked down who has ever gotten back up."
Whichever party ends up controlling Congress, Canada will survive in its relationship with the US, said Joel Sokolsky, professor of political science and foreign policy expert at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
"There are very few problems in Canada-US relations that Congress takes up specifically; usually, they're a by-product of something else," Sokolsky said. There is no stranger to protectionist sentiment, he added.
"Between Democrats and Republicans in terms of America First, in terms of manufacturing, I don't think there's much difference."
One of the key foreign policy questions for Canada — maintaining the international support coalition for Ukraine in its war with Russia — is likely safe, as Republicans have signaled they are not interested in undermining it, Sokolsky said.
"I think in terms of the broader issue - Ukraine, the broader NATO alliance - I don't think it's going to make much difference who controls Congress."
While Whitmer's efforts to close Line 5, fearing the environmental catastrophe by which the twin pipelines cross the Great Lakes, will persist, Republican influence on Capitol Hill could create renewed pressure in both countries to step up energy efforts.
"I think a large part of the narrative, if the Democrats end up losing the House, will have to do with gas prices," said Eric Miller, a Canada-U.S. expert and president of D.C.-based Rideau. Potomac Strategy Group.
"I think they will put more pressure on the federal government to increase its activities in the area of fossil energy."
In Arizona, problems with the vote-tapping machine soon sparked accusations of election tampering, which Trump led on social media and took advantage of by Lake as he urged his supporters not to give up.
Officials insisted that problems with the machines did not prevent anyone from voting, but that did not prevent Lake from insisting otherwise.
"When we win, the first act is to restore honesty to the Arizona election," he told supporters as he trailed Democrat Katie Hobbs, secretary of state, by 12 percentage points to half of the polls reported.
"When we win - and I think it will in a few hours - we will declare victory and we will start working to reverse this - no more incompetence and no more corruption in the Arizona election."
Intense competition in the battleground states has ensured that the question of whether Republicans can wrest control of the upper house from Democrats will not be resolved soon.
In Ohio, venture capitalist and "Hillbilly Elegy" author J.D. Vance, another Republican with Trump's stamp of approval, defeated congressman Tim Ryan, a Democrat who has tried to distance himself from President Joe Biden.
And in Wisconsin, Republican incumbent Ron Johnson has a one-point lead over Democrat Mandela Barnes with more than 90 percent of the vote counted.
That, combined with Fetterman's win, shifted focus to Georgia, where former NFL running back Herschel Walker and incumbent Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock spent the entire night swapping a narrow lead.
With 95 percent of the votes cast, Warnock led Walker by a meager 35,000 votes, but remains half a percentage point below the critical 50 percent threshold needed to avoid repeating it again in the second round next month.
"We're not sure if this trip is over tonight, or if there's still a bit of work to be done," Warnock told supporters.
"Here's what we know: we know that when they finish counting the votes from today's election, we will receive more votes than my opponent."
But as it turns out, Canada and the United States will remain important economic partners who will work together for the common good of people on both sides of the border, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier in the day.
"We've worked through very different administrative configurations in the past," Trudeau said when asked about the potential impact.
"The friendship and solidity of relations between Canada and the United States will continue, regardless of what happens in the middle of the semester."
Midterm elections are rarely a problem for the party that controls the White House, but stubborn inflation, economic anxiety and President Joe Biden's dismal approval rating have become rocket fuel for Republicans.
In the Arizona Senate race, Senator Mark Kelly enjoyed a comfortable advantage over GOP nominee Blake Masters with 50 percent of the vote counted. Next door in Nevada, early tallies showed Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez-Masto ahead of rival Adam Laxalt.
And in Massachusetts, voters made history by making Attorney General Maura Healey not only their first female governor, but also one of the first openly lesbian governors in the US.
In a least surprising result of the evening, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to challenge Donald Trump for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, easily fended off Democratic rival Charlie Crist.
A convincing victory by DeSantis, dubbed "DeSanctimonious" by Trump during last week's rally in Pennsylvania, will surely strengthen hopes that he will challenge the former president for a chance to win the White House within two years.
This Canadian Press report was first published on November 8, 2022. This article was written by EDUKASI CAMPUS.