Tomorrow’s Elections: What Enviros Should Watch For

Who will control the House and Senate — and why it matters. [WITH NOV. 10 UPDATE]

  • Will Biden be able to pass new climate legislation in the next two years? Will EPA be shut down due to budget disputes?
  • Will he be able to add any new judges to balance Trump’s anti-regulatory appointees?
  • Can Biden appoint new administrators to serve the next two years?
  • How much will the Administration be hammered by hostile committees or impeachment efforts?

The answers depend on what happens tomorrow night.

Right now, election prospects have reverted about where they were last summer. The House seems very likely to flip to the Republicans, with perhaps 10-20 seats changing hands. In terms of what to watch for in the Senate, the most critical states remain Nevada, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.   Whichever party wins two of the three is likely to control the Senate. [UPDATE: As of Nov. 10, the Democrats won Pennsylvania, Georgia has gone to a runout, and Nevada is still too close to call.  Arizona is also too close to call, and Democrats must win two out of Arizona, Georgia, and Nevada to hold the Senate.]

To unpack the consequences a bit: the prospects for new appointments depend on who controls the Senate, which in turn depends on whether the Democrats are able to hold onto their current razor-thin control of the Senate. If Mitch McConnell is Senate majority leader, he’s likely to block most appointments. And new legislation can’t reach the floor without his o.k., even if a bill has enough Republican support to pass.

What happens in the House also matters.  GOP control is likely to lead to very confrontational politics, up to and including possible impeachment proceedings. If the Democrats get control of the House and the Senate – less likely but it still possible — things will continue on their present course, including possible new climate spending.

If the Republicans win the House, as seems probable, McCarthy may have trouble controlling his very fractious caucus. [UPDATE: As of Nov. 10, it still seems likely that the GOP will flip the House, but probably with a small margin.] A lot will depend on whether the less conservative members of the caucus have any bargaining power with McCarthy, or whether the extremists are in a position to dictate everything.  There’s already been talk about holding the debt limit hostage in order to force repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Given the way elections work these days, we may not know the full outcome for days or weeks. But when the polls close Tuesday night, they die will have been cast – all that will remain is counting the votes.

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Reader Comments

3 Replies to “Tomorrow’s Elections: What Enviros Should Watch For”

  1. Dan, is anyone paying serious attention to thia?:
    SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt (AP) — With the world on “a highway to climate hell with our foot on the accelerator,″ the United Nations chief on Monday told dozens of leaders to ”cooperate or perish,” on avoiding further climate catastrophe, singling out the two biggest polluting countries, China and the United States.

  2. As Greta Thunberg said: “Cop27 is a ‘scam’ that provides platform for ‘greenwashing, lying and cheating,’” and so are our political and intellectual institutions that failed to protect our civilization.

    UPDATE ON REALITY: COP27 Latest: Kerry Says Republican Victory Will End Climate Aid
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-08/cop27-latest-japan-stalls-once-again-on-carbon-tax-reforms?srnd=green

    But the fact that bothers me most that the world’s best environmentalists, including UN and academic, could not protect the human race:
    Climate Change Eclipsed by Inflation, Crime, Abortion in US Midterm Races
    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-11-04/climate-change-eclipsed-by-inflation-crime-abortion-in-us-midterm-races?srnd=green-climate-politics

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About Dan

Dan Farber has written and taught on environmental and constitutional law as well as about contracts, jurisprudence and legislation. Currently at Berkeley Law, he has al…

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About Dan

Dan Farber has written and taught on environmental and constitutional law as well as about contracts, jurisprudence and legislation. Currently at Berkeley Law, he has al…

READ more

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