- Dems racked up legislative wins that seem to be giving them a polling boost ahead of November.
- Some of the new laws on gun safety and veterans' health benefits came with GOP support.
One after the next, Congressional Democrats racked up some legislative victories that had eluded them through the spring and summer.
The flurry of late activity yielded bipartisan laws on gun safety, US competitiveness with China, and veterans' health benefits with a green light from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Then, Democrats approved on party lines the Inflation Reduction Act carrying the much of their economic agenda on healthcare, climate and taxes after clinching the votes of Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona.
Now, multiple polls are showing Democrats gaining ground against Republicans ahead of November, handing them a shot at keeping control of Congress. The FiveThirtyEight polling forecast shows Democrats are "slightly favored" to win the Senate while Republicans are still favorites to recapture the House, albeit with a narrower margin than earlier this year.
They're making headway in particular among women and independents, two pivotal constituencies that may well decide which party controls the House and Senate. In addition, a pair of special elections in New York and Alaska ended in Democratic victories last month.
"The reason that our fortunes are improving is we're getting a whole lot of stuff done some with only Democratic votes. But some was significant bipartisan support," Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia told Insider.
"The best politics is good policy," Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden of Oregon told Insider, adding that the IRA law's wind, solar, and electric vehicle tax credits amounted to the largest climate spending in US history.
Kaine also called the Supreme Court decision striking down Roe v. Wade "a horrible misreading" of how Americans view the abortion rights issue.
"I think that is creating significant energy to help that will largely help Democratic candidates, so those are the two things that are changing the dynamic right now," Kaine said.
That outcome of Democrats hanging onto the Senate and the House remains a long shot. But Republicans seem to be on the defensive at the moment. McConnell and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, head of the GOP Senate campaign arm, are feuding over the party's political prospects and ability to fundraise in battleground states like Georgia and Arizona. Biden has also stepped up his attacks on "ultra-MAGA" Republicans and accusing them of embracing "semi-fascism."
"I think that President Biden and Democrats would love to distract people from what polls tell us are their main concerns which are inflation, crime and the border," Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, a McConnell confidante, told Insider. "I have faith that the voters will give us the opportunity to regain the majority here and hopefully work to put constructive legislation on President Biden's desk."
Cornyn also said he was "concerned" about surveys showing Republicans losing support among women. But he expressed confidence that individual campaigns would find a way to regain their backing as more voters start tuning in during the fall campaign stretch.
Other Republicans argued that the polling boost for Democrats would be short-lived. "I've been here a while. There's always a little bit of happy to talk in August about how things are not going to be as bad as the party that's on the defensive thinks they're going to be," Sen. Roy Blunt of Missouri told Insider, referring to Democrats.