Karl Altau: The U.S. Midterms and the Baltics and Ukraine

Karl Altau / JBANC

The 2022 midterm elections in the United States are in the books. But the counting will continue into December.

The election headlines are that the Senate will remain in the hands of Democrats, and Republicans held on to flip the House [Republicans held a 217-208 lead at the time of this article’s submission with one more victory of 10 remaining races needed to gain the majority]. Despite the victory, House Republicans fell short of the “red wave” which pundits and pollsters had predicted.

An overwhelming majority of Baltic Caucus members and friends of Ukraine won re-election, and the 118th Congress will meet on January 3 to swear in new Members. Not too much will change from the Baltic perspective. Whatever the balance is in the U.S. Senate and House, the U.S.-Baltic relationship remains strong, and support for Ukraine will dominate into 2023.

Elections were held for 35 of the 100 seats in the U.S. Senate. These included two special elections, one of them to fill the remaining four years of the term of Senator James Inhofe (R) of Oklahoma, the Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee. Senator Chuck Grassley (Iowa), co-chairman of the Senate Baltic Freedom Caucus, and John Boozman (R-Arkansas) were the only two members of the caucus to face re-election this year. Both won handily.