Economics
How Obama Lost the Senate
Democratic candidates couldn’t unburden themselves from the anchor of an unpopular president.
US President Barack Obama pauses while making a statement for the press after a meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House October 15, 2014 in Washington, DC. Obama canceled campaign and fundraising travel for Democrats to attend the meeting on Ebola after a second case of the disease was contracted inside the United States.
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Republicans seized on voter anger over President Barack Obama’s handling of the economy to take control of the U.S. Senate, setting up a clash of priorities that will shape his final two years in office and the race to succeed him.
The economy was voters’ most pressing concern as they cast their ballots in the midterm election, with seven of 10 rating conditions poor, preliminary exit polls showed.