Ron DeSantis, Trump’s main conservative rival, measures his electoral strength for the 2024 presidential elections

The governor of Florida, a rising figure of the Republican Party, becomes the star of the first meeting with supporters of the formation after the midterm elections.

The mid-term elections in the United States have left a divided Congress in Washington that will pose difficulties for President Joe Biden ―that is how the voters wanted it― but that is far from posing the threat to the institutions that hung over the country. 10 days after the election, the Democrats have managed to retain a majority in the Senate, and even have a chance of winning one more in December.

In the House of Representatives, projections indicate that the Republicans will have a slim majority, between one and three seats. Of the 36 governorships at stake, the Democrats have turned around three and the Republicans one. None of the democracy-denying candidates running for posts related to the voting procedure in key states have won. The Republican Party has signed the worst result for the opposition in two decades.

The achievement of a majority in the lower house is a bitter victory. In that bench, from traditional Republicans to characters from the Trumpist universe will coincide. The challenger to succeed Nancy Pelosi for president, Kevin McCarthy, cannot afford to defect from a group where it is going to be extremely difficult to reach consensus on anything other than blocking White House action. It is to be hoped that filibustering tactics such as the refusal to raise the debt ceiling will return.

In this sense, the control of the Senate by the Democrats is essential, since it will allow appointments to be made, will facilitate the processing of the budget and will stop the impeachment ambitions of Trumpist radicalism in its tracks.

The calm with which Biden accepted the results on election night contrasts with the nervousness unleashed on the Republican side. Donald Trump announced on Tuesday his candidacy for president in 2024 in a move that skips all deadlines and opens a period of uncertainty with a double objective.

First, to intimidate other Republicans who are already talking about turning the page on an illiberal drift, and since 2020 undemocratic, which voters have punished three times. And second, to be able to present himself as a political victim in the event that any of the investigations against him result in a formal accusation.

The control that Trump maintains over more than a third of the Republican bases means that he cannot be considered finished. But the message from the voters is unmistakable, and it has been heard loud and clear in the Republican Party.