Anti-gun candidates took a beating in Tuesday night’s election, with Republicans winning not only the presidency but also the U.S. Senate. At the time of this writing, House races in some districts were still too close to call, so declaring a Republican sweep is still premature.
Leading the red wave was former President Donald Trump, who crushed through the “blue wall” and captured 277 Electoral votes at the latest count, compared to just 224 for Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump won nearly all of the swing states, including Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Michigan and Arizona were both still too close to call, but the latest tallies showed Trump leading both by a narrow margin. The latest count also showed Trump ahead of Harris in the popular vote by about 5 million votes.
“I’ll be fighting for you, and with every breath in my body,” Trump told supporters after securing the victory. “I will not rest until we deliver the strong, safe and prosperous America that our children deserve and that you deserve.”
As TTAG readers are well aware, the presidency was a must-win race after American gun owners suffered the last four years under President Joe Biden’s anti-gun administration. Harris had promised to institute even more gun control schemes, but the loss has likely produced her last time in the political limelight.
Of course, gun-rights organizations, including Gun Owners of America, were elated with Trump’s victory.
“Kamala Harris would have continued weaponizing the power of government against the Second Amendment rights of the people,” GOA Senior Vice President Eric Pratt said in a press release from early this morning, “We’re thrilled to be charting a far different and brighter course with President Trump, who has promised to repeal the Biden-Harris infringements within his first week in office. Rather than going on defense, we’re already preparing to help the Trump Administration repeal gun control and restore Second Amendment rights.”
In the Senate, Republicans managed to capture at least 52 seats to the Democrat’s current 42, ousting Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a longtime gun-ban proponent, from his leadership role. Several races remained too close to call at 6 a.m. central time, but the Republican candidates held small margins in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The Democrats have held the majority in the Senate since 2021.
Big pro-gun wins in the Senate races included a huge victory for Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who crushed his opponent, anti-gun Democrat Colin Allred, by more than a million votes. In another key victory, former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy, in his first run for public office, unseated anti-gun Democrat John Tester in Montana. In a race that the National Rifle Association poured more than $2 million into, Sheehy received 53% of the vote, compared to Tester’s 45.2%.
Trump declared the win an “unprecedented and powerful mandate,” which is a good description of the major victory for Republicans in the Senate and for the presidency. It remains to be seen exactly how effective they will be in pushing forward pro-2A legislation given the current uncertainty in the U.S. House of Representatives elections
With several races for the House still too close to call this morning, it’s currently unclear which party will hold the majority in that body. In one tightly contested race of interest to gun owners, Montana Rep. Ryan Zinke narrowly defeated Democrat Monica Tranel.
Zinke is a former Navy SEAL, fifth-generation Montanan and strong 2A supporter. At the other end of the spectrum, Tranel supported so-called “universal” background checks, red-flag laws and closing the “gun show loophole,” another term to describe outlawing private sale of firearms.
Pro-rights groups hope Trump will begin his presidency by immediately rolling back some of the arguably unconstitutional executive actions President Joe Biden put into effect upon taking office. Other immediate top priorities include reining in the Biden-weaponized Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), doing away with Biden’s White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, pushing forward national concealed carry reciprocity legislation and rolling back anti-gun laws that have plagued American gun owners ability to freely practice their Second Amendment rights.
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