By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Northern Missouri Congressman Sam Graves says the election broke for Republicans late, giving his party a better showing on Election Day that he had thought it would fare.
Former President Donald Trump won a little more than 50% of the popular vote and has more than enough Electoral College votes. Republicans took control of the Senate and are in a tight race for control of the House.
Graves, a Republican, says voters rejected the woke agenda of the Biden-Haris administration.
“You know, things were looking better and better as we got closer and closer to the election and then it ended up being even better than we thought,” Graves tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “Polling is getting to be a lot tougher than it used to be, but having said that, it was trending and tracking, what we were seeing was exactly kind of what happened, but it did end up being a little bit better than we thought.”
As of Monday afternoon, former President Donald Trump has a bit more than 50% of the popular vote with 312 Electoral votes, according to the Associated Press. Vice President Kamala Harris has nearly 48% of the popular vote and 226 electors. It takes 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
Republicans have taken the majority in the U.S. Senate, now with 53 seats. Democrats have 46 seats with one seat yet to be decided. Eighteen U.S. Representative races have yet to be called. Republicans lead Democrats 214 seats to 203. A political party needs 218 members to secure a majority in the United States House.
Graves says the issues made the difference in this campaign.
“I think our message is what resonated,” Graves says. “I think people are tired of this woke culture and the policies that are being put out by the liberals and the progressives out there and particularly Vice President Harris. Things like the border. The border resonates with every single person out there.”
Graves says his party received a mandate on Tuesday and needs to act on it.
“You cannot spend yourself out of an economic crisis and that’s what we have right now. They (voters) also want to see the border closed. They want people to come into this country legally and not illegally,” according to Graves. “That’s the reason they voted for Republicans, because they want to see some action.”
As for Graves, he breezed to re-election, winning 70% of the vote. Graves has been elected to a total of 13 terms in Congress and is dean of the Missouri Congressional delegation.
Graves is being mentioned as a possible candidate for Transportation Secretary in the second Trump Administration.