Monthly Archives: November, 2022

(The Center Square) – There are new questions about the 2020 election after the latest numbers from the 2022 election.

Rep. Janel Brandtjen, R-Menomonee Falls, on Tuesday said this year’s military voting numbers show something happened between the two elections.

“We have learned that the number of active military members voting in the 2022 election dropped by over 83% since the 2020 election!” Brandtjen said in a statement.

Brandtjen is at the center of the story about military ballots in Wisconsin.

She received three fake military ballots ahead of Election Day. Those ballots, it turned out, came from a Milwaukee election manager.

“When Milwaukee deputy election clerk Kim Zapata created three military members out of thin air and sent requests for legitimate ballots to my home address, the vulnerability of the military ballot process was exposed,” Brandtken added.

Military voters in Wisconsin don’t have to actually register, and never have to show voter ID in order to get an absentee ballot in the state.

Brandtjen said there were nearly 10,000 military votes in the 2020 election, and not even 2,000 in the 2022 election.

“The 2022 active military voters dropped to 1,573 after a 2020 high number of 9,876, 4,966 in 2018 and 6,736 in 2016," she said. Referencing the Wisconsin Election Commission, Brandtjen continued: "The substantial drop should have been noticed by WEC, and inquiries should have been made. Once again, WEC failed to do their job.”

Wisconsin law requires local election managers track military voters on a list, and Brandtjen said many clerks did not do that.

Brandtjen is not saying whether she thinks the shift in military voting numbers point to more shenanigans from the 2020 election or a lack of shenanigans in the 2022 election.

Brandtjen has, of course, led one of the investigations into the 2020 election. She also was a supporter of the investigation conducted by former Supreme Court Justice Mike Gableman, and has said the questions first raised in that probe have not yet been answered.

(The Center Square) – A Wisconsin Republican congressman is amping-up the war of words against TikTok.

Congressman Mike Gallagher was on Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures over the weekend, and talked about China and its influence over TikTok.

“TikTok should be banned. Senator Marco Rubio and I have legislation that does exactly that. TikTok is digital fentanyl addicting our kids, and just like actual fentanyl, it ultimately goes back to the Chinese Communist Party.,” Gallagher said.

TikTok is owned by a Chinese tech firm called ByteDance. The company says more than a billion people use TikTok each month.

Gallagher says that means China is essentially spying on a billion people each month, including a lot of young people in America.

“TikTok is owned by ByteDance. ByteDance is controlled by the CCP. That means the CCP can track your location. It can track your keystrokes. It can censor your news. Why would we give our foremost adversary that amount of power?” Gallagher asked.

Gallagher’s criticism wasn’t just limited to TikTok. He labeled the entire Chinese Communist Party a “repressive regime.”

“The CCP is using the pretense of public health to institute a system of total techno-totalitarian control. And that’s not just for domestic use, that’s a model of repression they want to export around the world…As the CCP doubles down on oppression, we need to double down on freedom,” Gallagher added. “We have too many people bashing America, we have too many useful idiots in the American media. We need to embrace American values as a self-evident contrast to the Orwellian oppression of the CCP. That’s how we win the ideological fight over the long term, by remembering that we’re the good guys.”

Gallagher, along with Texas Senator Marco Rubio have written legislation that would ban TikTok in the United States.

There’s been no movement on the legislation, which was introduced just a few weeks ago. There is a sense that something may happen when Republicans take over Congress next year.

(The Center Square) – The next legal fight over whether someone has to belong to a group in order to do their job may be coming for the courtroom itself.

The Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty on Monday asked the United State Supreme Court to once again take a look at mandatory membership in the state bar.

“For far too long, this Court’s precedents have allowed States to put attorneys to the choice of either losing their ability to earn a living in their profession or associating with and funding opinions with which they disagree,” WILL argued in its amicus brief.

WILL is calling the challenge a First Amendment case.

“Forcing objecting attorneys to join and fund an organization that engages in speech with which they disagree is contrary to fundamental values of free speech and free association,” WILL Deputy Counsel, Anthony LoCoco, said. “If the State Bar wants members, it should have to earn their support.”

Wisconsin’s State Bar was voluntary for much of its history.

The State Bar does very little actual work.

WILL notes it doesn’t regulate, discipline, or monitor the competency or character of attorneys – those roles belong to the Board of Bar Examiners and the Office of Lawyer Regulation.

“The State Bar is akin to a trade association. That role may be unobjectionable but association with the Bar should be voluntary,” WILL added.

WILL challenged Wisconsin’s bar membership in 2019 after the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the Janus ruling that stopped unions from forcing workers to join in order to keep their jobs.

The high court passed on the case then, though Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch dissented.

The petitioner in the latest lawsuit is Schuyler File, who is represented in part by lawyers at Liberty Justice Center.

File argues that forcing Wisconsin lawyers to choose between practicing their profession or joining and funding an organization with which they disagree violates First Amendment guarantees of free speech and association.

More than 40% of U.S. small business owners say they couldn’t pay rent on time or in full for the month of November, the highest this year.

The small business network group Alignable released the survey, which found that the hardship varies by industry. A notable 57% of beauty salons said they couldn’t make rent as well as 45% of gyms, 44% of retail and 44% of restaurants.

“Making matters worse, this occurred during a quarter when more money should be coming in and rent delinquency rates should be decreasing,” Alignable said. “But so far this quarter, the opposite has been true.”

This latest report continues a steady increase in businesses that can't pay rent this year.

“Last month, rent delinquency rates increased seven percentage points from 30% in September to 37% in October,” Alignable said. “And now, in November, that rate is another four percentage points higher, reaching a new high across a variety of industries.”

Business owners cite a range of reasons for the difficulty making rent, including higher rent costs and lower revenue. But 60% cite inflation.

“One indicator of the toll inflation is taking on businesses is a steep drop in the percentage of small businesses that are fully recovered, earning as much if not more than they did monthly prior to COVID,” Alignable said. “The percentage was 24% in October, but dropped to 14% in November -- an all-time low.”

Michigan had the highest percentage of small business owners unable to make rent at 51% with New York in second at 49% and Massachusetts third highest at 45%.

The survey queried 6,326 small business owners in November.

(The Center Square) – The University of Wisconsin is all but closing one of its smallest campuses.

UW President Jay Rothman said in a letter Tuesday the UW-Platteville will end all in-person classes at its Richland campus.

Rothman ordered Platteville’s chancellor to end the degree program at the Richland campus because only 60 students are taking classes there right now.

“While the University of Wisconsin System remains committed to the branch campuses and to providing as broad of access for students as possible, there comes a time when financial pressure and low enrollment makes in-person degree level academic instruction no longer tenable,” Rothman wrote in his letter.

Next year the 60 Richland students will be transitioned to either the Platteville or Baraboo campuses.

No one is saying what will happen to the faculty and staff members teaching at the Richland campus.

And Rothman isn’t saying if this will be the last or only small UW campus to close.

“Each of the branch campuses have a different strategy about what it’s going to look like going forward,” Rothman said earlier in the week. “But we’ve got to address [enrollment], and we have to have the branch campuses be sustainable in the long run.”

The UW System says only the main campus in Madison, as well as the campuses in Green Bay and Superior added students this fall. The rest either saw enrollment flatline or drop.

Sen, Howard Marklein, R-Spring Green, who represents the Richland area said the loss of classes at the campus will hurt the community.

“I am saddened to hear that the UW Board of Regents has decided to end in person instruction at UW Richland. I know this was a difficult decision that they have been discussing for quite some time,” Marklein said in a statement. “There is no doubt that this is a major change for our community. The campus has been a hub of activity and learning for many, many years. I appreciate the UW’s efforts to provide options for those affected and ideas for ways to fill in the gaps that this departure will leave in Richland County.”

UW officials say they may use the Richland campus as an outreach center, or offer adult education and enrichment classes there in the future. But nothing is certain.

(The Center Square) – There is already a focus on Wisconsin’s next election.

Former Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday said if liberals win the race for Supreme Court in Wisconsin, all of the state’s reforms from his time in office will be in danger.

“An activist court, as we’ve seen elsewhere in the country, could do almost anything,” Walker told News Talk 113O WISN’s Jay Weber. “If you listen to at least a couple of of the liberal candidates … they sound very much aligned with some of the things we’ve seen in California and Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.”

Walker says that could mean changes not only to Act 10 or Right to Work in Wisconsin, but could mean changes to things like redistricting that he says “affects the rest of the country.”

Judge Dan Kelly is the leading conservative candidate for Supreme Court on the Republican side so far. Walker appointed Kelly to the court back in 2016, and on Tuesday said Kelly made his mark on the court.

“Kelly to me was much like [Antonin] Scalia was on the U.S. Supreme Court, just brilliant,” Walker added.

There are some Republicans who are talking about Waukesha Christmas Parade Judge Jennifer Dorow as a candidate. Gov. Walker isn’t sure.

“I appointed her. I like her. Her and her husband are friends of mine,” Walker explained. “To me, I think one of the benefits, and we’ve seen this in statewide races in the past last couple of cycles, there is a tremendous benefit to having someone who has been vetted, who’s been tested."

One of the keys, Walker said, will of course be voter turnout.

Kelly lost his reelection race in 2020, in part because Democrats saw a huge turnout.

“In the general election for the court, which was in April of that year, [Kelly] got more votes than Brian Hagedorn in 2019. He got more votes than most candidates need to win outright,” Walker explained. “But at that time there was a presidential primary where you had both Donald Trump up, and you had Joe Biden up. He was the presumptive nominee, but Bernie Sanders was still on the ballot.”

Walker said Republican and conservative voters must turn out in the race for Supreme Court next year. .

The spring primary election in Wisconsin is February 21, the general election is April 4.

Nancy Pelosi, the California Democrat who has led her party as U.S. House Speaker and House Minority Leader for roughly two decades, announced Thursday that she would step down from her leadership role.

Pelosi, who is 82, said she plans to continue representing her California district in Congress.

“I will not seek reelection to Democratic leadership in the next Congress,” Pelosi said, adding that “the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect.”

Pelosi was the first woman to be Speaker of the House. Her announcement comes just hours after Republicans were projected to have a narrow majority in the House, setting the nation up for at least two years of divided government.

"I have enjoyed working with three presidents achieving historic investments in clean energy with President George Bush, transformative health care reform with President Barack Obama, and forging the future from infrastructure to health care to climate action with President Joe Biden," Pelosi said.

Pelosi’s Democratic colleagues in both chambers praised her for the years of leadership.

“Our nation is more resilient today and the pillars of our democracy are more secure because of the historic and trailblazing service of Speaker Nancy Pelosi,” said Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif. “As the first woman and first Californian to ever serve as Speaker of the House, she’s redefined American leadership for future generations and served as an inspiration for young women around the world.”

When Congress authorized $80 billion this year to beef up Internal Revenue Service enforcement and staffing, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy warned that “Democrats’ new army of 87,000 IRS agents will be coming for you.”

A video quickly went viral racking up millions of views, purporting to show a bunch of clumsy bureaucrats receiving firearms training, prompting alarm that the IRS would be engaged in military-style raids of taxpayers. The GOP claims were widely attacked as exaggerations – since the video, though from the IRS, didn’t show official agent training – but the criticism has shed light on a growing trend: the rapid arming of the federal government.

A report issued last year by the watchdog group Open The Books, “The Militarization of The U.S. Executive Agencies,” found that more than 200,000 federal bureaucrats now have been granted the authority to carry guns and make arrests – more than the 186,000 Americans serving in the U.S. Marine Corps. “One hundred three executive agencies outside of the Department of Defense spent $2.7 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between fiscal years 2006 and 2019 (inflation adjusted),” notes the report. “Nearly $1 billion ($944.9 million) was spent between fiscal years 2015 and 2019 alone.”

The watchdog reports that the Department of Health and Human Services has 1,300 guns including one shotgun, five submachine guns, and 189 automatic firearms. NASA has its own fully outfitted SWAT team, with all the attendant weaponry, including armored vehicles, submachine guns, and breeching shotguns. The Environmental Protection Agency has purchased drones, GPS trackers, radar equipment, and night vision goggles, and stockpiled firearms.

A 2018 Government Accountability Office report noted that the IRS had 4,487 guns and 5,062,006 rounds of ammunition in inventory at the end of 2017 – before the enforcement funding boost this year. The IRS did not respond to requests for information, though the IRS’s Criminal Investigation division does put out an annual report detailing basic information such as how many warrants the agency is executing in a given year.

More than a hundred executive agencies have armed investigators, and apparently no independent authority is monitoring or tracking the use of force across the federal government. Agencies contacted by RealClearInvestigations from HHS to EPA declined to provide, or said they did not have, comprehensive statistics on how often their firearms are used, or details on how they conduct armed operations.

“I would be amazed if that data exists in any way,” said Trevor Burrus, a research fellow in constitutional and criminal law at the libertarian Cato Institute. “Over the years of working on this, it’s quite shocking how much they try to not have their stuff tracked on any level.”

All this weaponry raises questions about whether the 200,000 armed federal agents are getting adequate weapons and safety training. HHS did not respond to a request to comment on the $14 million in guns, ammunition, and military equipment it purchased between 2015 and 2019 or its new National Training Operations Center within the Washington, D.C. Beltway. Another government agency – Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers – also declined to speak with RCI for this article.

According to Burrus, recent history helps explain the militarization of the federal government – “This is 20 years of the war on terror, with the production of an excessive amount of access to weaponry,” he says.

The Homeland Security Act of 2002 extended law enforcement authority to special agents of 24 Offices of Inspectors General in agencies throughout the government, with provisions to enable other OIGs to qualify for law enforcement authority. As a result, even obscure agencies such as the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board’s Office of Inspector General now have armed federal agents. This summer, before the expansion of the IRS was approved by Congress, Republican congressman Matt Gaetz singled out the RRB as an example of the excesses of an armed bureaucracy. He introduced a bill to stop federal agencies from stockpiling ammunition.

Federal agencies doing their own criminal investigations raises important constitutional and civil rights questions. Last year, the EPA raided a number of small auto shops across the country for allegedly selling equipment that helped car owners circumvent emissions regulations.

“It was 12 armed federal agents, and they had little EPA badges on and everything,” John Lund, the owner of Lund Racing in West Chester, Pennsylvania, told the Washington Examiner. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment.

While it’s hardly a new complaint that federal bureaucracies are overstepping their rulemaking authority, the idea that executive agencies are broadly empowered to effectively create their own laws and go out and enforce them with armed federal agents is another matter.

“So many of the regulations that can be enforced at the point of a gun have almost nothing to do with what people would normally call dangerous crime, that would be the kind of thing where you might want armed agents there,” said Burrus. “And especially coming from agencies such as the EPA and other agencies that are more quality-of-life agencies dealing with regulatory infractions, rather than involved in solving real crimes.”

This article was adapted from a RealClearInvestigations article published Oct. 6.

Republicans took a majority of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after multiple media outlets projected California Republican Mike Garcia would win the 27th Congressional District.

CNN, Fox News, the New York Times and the Washington Post all reported the GOP took the House majority as of Wednesday night. With a handful of races still left to call, Republicans are projected to hold at least 218 seats, enough to secure majority control. Democrats had 210 seats as of Wednesday.

The New York Times tweeted, "Republicans seized a slender majority in the House of Representatives on Wednesday. It will reorder the balance of power in Washington and is expected to effectively give the party a veto on President [Joe] Biden's agenda for the next two years."

Conservatives celebrated.

"SO LONG, NANCY!" Fox News commentator Sean Hannity posted on Twitter.

Democrat Nancy Pelosi is the outgoing Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The Speaker of the House has broad authority including the power to select who is appointed to which committees.

U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the current minority leader, is expected to lead the House but is facing some pushback within his own party.

"Republicans just won back control of the House. This is a big deal," Joe Walsh, a former GOP U.S. Congressman who ran for president in 2020, posted on Twitter. "The majority party in the House controls & dictates EVERYTHING. So the GOP will investigate EVERYTHING. They'll disband the Jan 6th Committee on day 1 & launch an investigation of the Jan 6th Committee on day 2."

Some supporters of Democrats said the GOP won control by gerrymandering.

Jon Cooper, a New York Democratic activist who was the Long Island chairman for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, tweeted Nov. 15: "If Republicans do end up winning the House by a RAZOR-THIN margin, that will ONLY have been due to extreme, partisan gerrymandering by the GOP – in TX, FL, OH and elsewhere. The GOP couldn't win a fair fight."

Democrats in Blue states such as Illinois also have been accused of gerrymandering their way to big election wins.

(The Center Square) – There is a growing chorus of Milwaukee Democrats who say the state is missing the mark by expanding I-94 instead of focusing on buses and bicycles.

The Department of Transportation on Friday announced plans to widen I-94 between 70th Street and 16th Street in Milwaukee. That includes the lanes around American Family Field. The ultimate goal is to add new lanes, going from the current six lanes up to eight lanes.

Rep. Jonathan Brostoff, D-Milwaukee, is accusing Wis-Dot of living in the past.

“The DOT has an opportunity to redirect funds away from a backwards, environmentally disastrous ‘car is king’ mentality, and towards improvements that would do generational good in our communities,” Brotsoff said.

Many Milwaukee Democrats oppose the interstate project, either because they don’t like the costs, the environmental impact, or they believe that interstates have historically cut off communities of color.

Brostoff says he’d rather see Wisconsin invest in mass transit and bike lanes in the area.

“At a time when our communities are clamoring for multimodal transit options, pedestrian and bike safety improvements, and a shift away from car supremacy, expanding I-94 to eight lanes moves us in the wrong direction,” Brostoff said. “I urge the DOT to instead commit to redirecting the millions of additional dollars it would cost to expand I-94 towards making much-needed improvements across the region.”

He’s not alone. Milwaukee County Supervisor Peter Burgelis is also denouncing Wis-DOT’s I-94 plan.

“Building oversized freeways without considerations for multimodal transportation or permanent transit infrastructure is narrow-minded and shortsighted, and ignores concerns voiced by residents throughout this years-long design process. The eight-lane design does not serve the people of District 15, Milwaukee County, or Southeastern Wisconsin as well as it could,” Burgelis said in a statement.

Wisconsin has been talking about or actively planning to expand I-94 for years.

The project began in 2012, and was placed on hold in 2017 because state lawmakers didn’t include an expansion in the state budget.

Wis-DOT picked it back up in 2020, and has been marching toward a decision ever since.

There are two public hearings on the plan scheduled for next month.

Right now, the expansion project is expected to cost $1.2 billion.

Senate Republicans voted Wednesday to keep U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell as head of their party in the Senate.

The votes came in for McConnell despite a push from Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., to take the spot. Scott leads the National Republican Study Committee. He sent a letter to his Republican colleagues dated Nov. 15 making the case for their vote.

“I’m writing to you today because I believe it’s time for the Senate Republican Conference to be far more bold and resolute than we have been in the past. We must start saying what we are for, not just what we are against,” he said. “I do not believe we can simply continue to say the Democrats are radical, which they are. Republican voters expect and deserve to know our plan to promote and advance conservative values. We need to listen to their calls for action and start governing in Washington like we campaign back at home. There is a Republican Party that is alive and well in communities across America. It is time there is one in Washington, D.C., too. That is why I am running to be Republican Leader.”

He laid out a range of policy priorities in the letter.

"For those who want to get serious about ending reckless government spending and the devastating inflation it has caused, finally take action to protect Social Security and Medicare and preserve the promise of these programs for our children and grandchildren, hold government accountable from the FBI to the IRS, truly combat the extreme danger posed by Communist China and refocus our military on lethal defense instead of woke nonsense, I ask for your support in changing the direction of the Senate and rescuing America from the dangerous path Democrats have set it on,” Scott said.

The vote proceeded despite calls to delay it to include Herschel Walker, who is taking on Democrat Raphael Warnock in a Dec. 6 runoff for a Georgia Senate seat.

“We have a contested leadership election in the Senate GOP,” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote on Twitter Tuesday. “My view is we should let @HerschelWalker vote! Don’t disenfranchise him. Tomorrow at the election meeting I will ask for a vote on a delay to allow Herschel, if elected, to participate.”

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, blasted McConnell Monday.

“Mitch would rather be leader than have a Republican majority,” Cruz said on “Verdict,” his podcast. “If there’s a Republican who can win who’s not going to support Mitch, the truth of the matter is he’d rather the Democrat win.”

McConnell told reporters Tuesday he was confident he would continue to lead the party.

“I think the outcome is pretty clear,” he said. “I want to repeat again, I have the votes. I will be elected.”

McConnell also shifted the blame for Republicans’ underwhelming midterm election performance to other leaders in the Republican party.

“We under-performed among independents and moderates because their impression of many of the people in our party, in leadership roles is that they’re causing chaos, negativity, excessive attacks,” he said. “And it frightened independent and moderate Republican voters.”

Scott, though, made that poor performance a key argument in his letter.

“Like each of you, I am deeply disappointed by the results of the recent election,” he said. “Despite what the armchair quarterbacks on TV will tell you, there is no one person responsible for our party’s performance across the country. I know there is no shortage of people who are eager to point fingers and assign blame here in Washington, but I won’t be one of them. It’s unproductive and a massive waste of time. We know that chief among our problems in races across America was a lack of Republican voter turnout. There may be many reasons for that, but after traveling the country to support our candidates I believe voters want a plan. They are begging us to tell them what we will do when we are in charge. Unfortunately, we have continued to elect leadership who refuses to do that and elicits attacks on anyone that does. That is clearly not working and it’s time for bold change. The voters are demanding it.”

Meanwhile, the House of Representatives remains up for grabs with Republicans just one seat away from the needed 218 votes to secure a majority. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., is expected to get the official House Speaker spot when the new Congress takes over next year.

At noon on Wednesday, a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives remained unresolved but was nearing a decision.

By consensus, Republicans have been called victorious for 217 of the 435 seats and needed just one more to flip control of the chamber with 10 remaining. Races in California, where seven are uncalled, could be decided today and have a mix of the GOP and Democrats leading.

The following are the remaining situations:

• California 3rd Congressional District: Republican Kevin Kiley 52.8% of the vote, Democrat Kermit Jones 47.2%; precincts counted 57%; difference about 10,000+ votes.

• California 13th; Democrat Adam Gray 50.3%, Republican John Duarte 49.7%; precincts 86%; difference about 3,000+ votes.

• California 22nd; Republican Rep. David Valadao 52.4%, Democrat Rudy Salas 47.6%; precincts 64%; difference about 3,000+ votes.

• California 27th; Republican Rep. Mike Garcia 54.2%, Democrat Christy Smith, 45.8; precincts 70%; difference about 13,000+ votes.

• California 34th; Democrat Rep. Jimmy Gomez 52.3%, Democrat David Kim 47.7%; precincts 70%; difference about 4,000+ votes.

• California 47th; Democrat Rep. Katie Porter 50.8%, Republican Scott Baugh 49.2%; precincts 84%; difference about 3,000+ votes.

• California 49th; Democrat Rep. Mike Levin 52.3%, Republican Brian Maryott 47.7%; precincts 89%; difference about 8,000+ votes.

• Colorado 3rd; Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert 50.2%, Democrat Adam Frisch 49.8%; precincts 99%; difference, about 1,000+ votes.

• Maine 2nd; ranked choice voting results expected to be announced Wednesday; Democrat Rep. Jared Golden 48.2%, Republican Bruce Poliquin 44.9%, independent Tiffany Boyd 6.9%; difference, about 10,500 votes lead for Golden over Poliquin, and Bond earned 21,555 votes that will be dispersed through the ranked choice tabulation.

• Alaska at-large: ranked choice voting results are being tabulated so that a candidate secures 50% of the vote; Democrat Rep. Mary Peltola 48.1%, Republican Sarah Palin 26.1%, Republican Nick Begich 23.8%, Libertarian Chris Bye 1.7%; precincts 90%; difference, Peltola by 53,000+ votes over Palin, by 58,000+ votes over Begich.

With several races still uncalled, Republicans are on the verge of taking the 218 seats needed for a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.

So far, 217 House seats have been called for Republicans, according to The Associated Press, opposed to 205 for Democrats, leaving a little more than a dozen seats up for grabs, mostly in California, and along with it control of the House.

“When it comes to nominations – both judicial and executive – it will be more of the same. If the Democrats stick together, they can confirm whoever they want,” said John Malcom, an expert at the Heritage Foundation “In terms of policy, a lot will depend on whether the Republicans get the majority in the House, and if so, by how much.”

Divided government seems likely and could halt much of President Joe Biden’s agenda. Biden's several-trillion dollar spending spree will be a much harder sell for House Republicans.

Also, gas prices have soared since Biden took office amid his discouragement of oil drilling and reliance on foreign oil. Those prices dipped again after Biden released oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, but that release is scheduled to end shortly after the midterms. That, along with less oil being released by OPEC, could lead to higher prices at the pump.

“Divided government is usually preferred by markets and investors, but unfortunately the pain inflicted on American energy will not be mitigated by divided government,” said Daniel Turner, executive director of the pro-energy workers group Power the Future. “We need real vision and courageous legislation, and we will see none of that for at least two more years.”

Senate control has officially been handed over to the Democrats, regardless of the results of the Georgia runoff, after Republicans took tough losses in Arizona and Nevada this week. Biden will still only have slim margins to push through nominees of all kinds.

“Biden is still able to confirm his nominees to the various agencies,” Turner added. “Someone like Richard Glick at the FERC whose chairmanship is in doubt- can now be replaced with someone even more political. And any retiring cabinet or sub-cabinet official is screened and approved in a purely partisan manner meaning American Fossil Fuels will still get punished.”

In the House, members are grappling over new leadership positions. U.S. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., the current minority leader, was expected to lead the House but is facing some pushback within his own party. Reports indicate more conservative members are asking for commitments from McCarthy before he gets tjeir vote, including legislative influence and committee spots. There will be a formal vote in January for House Speaker.

The Senate is having its own discussions over leadership with the pick expected this week. Some though, have raised questions about whether Herschel Walker, the Republican nominee for Georgia's Senate seat, should be allowed to have a say.

"I don’t get the Senate GOP line on @HerschelWalker: Please, please win - but we won’t let you vote for leadership," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote on Twitter Monday. "Are you going to treat him like a full member of the Senate or not?"

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump is expected to make a major announcement Tuesday evening that could be the unveiling of his White House bid. That would have major implications in particular for the Georgia runoff in December.

“Hopefully TODAY will turn out to be one of the most important days in the history of our Country!” Trump wrote on TruthSocial early Tuesday.