WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans were on the verge of retaking control of the House Monday, just one win away from the 218 seats the party needs to win a majority, paving the path for Democrats to take the chamber. preserved and the prospect of a divided government in Washington.
The Democrats have already seized control of the Senate, securing 50 seats with a runoff election in Georgia next month that could give President Joe Biden’s party an additional seat. The GOP entered the election, needing a net of just five seats for control of the House.
Nearly a week into the midterm, Republicans were closing in on the majority, giving conservatives leverage to put the brakes on Biden’s agenda and spark a wave of investigations. But a small numerical advantage will immediately present challenges to GOP leaders and complicate the party’s ability to govern.
The full scope of the party’s majority may still be apparent for several days or weeks as votes continue to be counted in competitive races. Still, the party was on track to reach 218 with seats in California and other states still too early to call.
Even if they barely make it to 218, it means Republicans will probably have the smallest majority of the 21st century. It could rival 2001, when Republicans held only a nine-seat majority, 221-212 with two independents. That’s far short of the landslide victory Republicans predicted in this year’s midterm elections, when the party hoped to reset the agenda on Capitol Hill by capitalizing on economic challenges and Biden’s lagging popularity.
Instead, the Democrats were able to largely dilute an expected major GOP election, holding onto moderate suburban districts from Virginia to Minnesota and Kansas. The results could complicate plans for House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy to become speaker, as some conservative members have questioned whether to support him or imposed conditions on their support.
The tight margins have turned Republican politics upside down and led to the finger pointing at what went wrong. Some in the GOP have blamed Donald Trump for the worse-than-expected outcome. The former president, who is expected to announce a third bid for the White House on Tuesday, lifted candidates in this year’s primary who struggled to win in the general election.
Despite his disappointing performance, the GOP will still see its power in Washington grow. Republicans will take control of House committees, giving them the ability to shape legislation and launch investigations into Biden, his family and his administration.
There is particular interest in investigating the foreign business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden. Some of the most conservative lawmakers have floated the prospect of impeaching Biden, though that will be much harder for the party to achieve with a narrow majority.
Any legislation that comes out of the House can get big chances in the Senate, where the slim Democratic majority will often be enough to derail legislation defended by the GOP.
With such a slim majority in the House, there is a potential for legislative chaos. The dynamic essentially gives an individual member tremendous influence over shaping what happens in the room. That could create particularly tricky conditions for GOP leaders trying to rally support for measures that need to be passed to keep the government funded or raise the debt ceiling.
The failure of the GOP to gain more gains was especially surprising given that the party went into the election benefiting from congressional maps being re-drafted by Republican lawmakers. History was on the side of the Republicans, too: The party that controls the White House had lost congressional seats during virtually every new president’s first midterm of the modern era.
If elected to succeed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the top post, McCarthy would lead what is likely to be a rowdy conference of House Republicans, most of whom are aligned with Trump’s bare-bones politics. Many Republicans in the incoming Congress rejected the results of the 2020 presidential election, though claims of widespread fraud were refuted by courts, election officials and Trump’s own attorney general.
In the first national election since the January 6 riot, a Republican who was outside the Capitol on the day of the mob attack, Derrick Van Orden, won a seat in the House. He won a seat long held by the Democrats in Wisconsin.
Republican candidates pledged on the campaign trail to cut taxes and tighten border security. GOP lawmakers could also withhold aid to Ukraine while it wages a war with Russia, or use the threat of national debt default as leverage to force cuts in social spending and entitlements — though all such pursuits are more difficult. will be, given how small the GOP majority is. eventually become.
As a senator and then vice president, Biden spent a career making legislative compromises with Republicans. But as president, he was clear about what he saw as the threats posed by the current Republican Party.
Biden said the midterm elections show voters want Democrats and Republicans to find ways to work together and govern in a bipartisan way, but also noted that Republicans failed to achieve the electoral surge they had bet on and vowed: “I don’t change anything in a fundamental way.”
The president was also blunt in assessing his party’s dwindling odds, saying of the House on Monday, “I think it’s getting very close, but I don’t think we’re going to make it.”
