Paul Wood

Does a Democratic House win pave the way to impeachment?

If as now seems certain, the Democrats do get control of the House, they will be in the majority on committees with subpoena power

At an election-night party hosted by a leading light in the Clinton White House, the hostess wore blue, anticipating the ‘blue wave’ that Democrats hope is about to sweep away the Republican majority in the House of Representatives. As I write, the Democrats are up 14 seats. They need to gain 23 to win the House. Opinion polls going into Tuesday gave them a good shot at that – and a smaller chance of winning the Senate. But then again, opinion polls predicted Donald Trump would lose and that Brexit wouldn’t happen. And some Democrats talked about how they would need a huge margin in the popular vote, as much as 10 points, to overcome how Republican states have redrawn the boundaries of Congressional seats.

Whatever the outcome, this has been a referendum on President Trump. If people are telling the truth to pollsters, about a quarter of them are voting for Trump in their local races, about a third against, with the rest not taking a position either way.

Written by
Paul Wood
Paul Wood was a BBC foreign correspondent for 25 years, in Belgrade, Athens, Cairo, Jerusalem, Kabul and Washington DC. He has won numerous awards, including two US Emmys for his coverage of the Syrian civil war

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