Republicans seized control of the U.S. House of Representatives from Democrats on Wednesday, networks said, narrowly securing a legislative base to defy President Joe Biden’s agenda for the final two years of his tenure — leaving power in Congress divided.
The narrow Republican majority in the lower house of the US Legislature will be much smaller than the party had anticipated, and Republicans also failed to seize control of the Senate in a historically weak performance in the Nov. 8 midterm elections.
NBC and CNN predicted victory for the Republicans with at least 218 seats in the 435-seat House of Representatives — the magic number needed to take control. This comes a week after millions of Americans turned out for the midterm elections that usually deliver a rejection of the party in the White House.
The news also came a day after former President Donald Trump – who played a huge role during the election cycle and whose support seems to have doomed some of his party’s candidates – announced a new candidacy for the White House.
With inflation rising and Biden’s cratering popularity, Republicans had hoped to see a “red wave” wash over America, giving them control of both houses and an effective bloc over most of Biden’s legislative plans.
But instead, Democratic voters — spurred on by the Supreme Court’s overthrow of Roe v. Wade and wary of Trump-backed candidates who openly opposed the outcome of the 2020 presidential election — sided.
And Republicans lost ground with candidates rejected as too extreme by moderate voters.
Biden’s party flipped a key Senate seat in Pennsylvania and retained two others in the battleground states of Arizona and Nevada, giving them an unassailable majority in the upper chamber with 50 seats plus Vice President Kamala Harris’ game-changing vote.
A Georgia Senate runoff slated for next month could see Democrats eventually improve their majority.
The Senate oversees the confirmation of federal judges and cabinet members, and having the 100-seat panel in its corner will be a huge boon for Biden.
– “Democratic rule is over”
“The era of one-party Democrat rule is over,” Kevin McCarthy, the ranking Republican in the House of Representatives who secretly won the party leadership election, said Tuesday. This put him in prime position to be the next speaker, replacing Democrat Nancy Pelosi.
The 57-year-old congressman from California, a senior member of the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives since 2014, fended off a challenge from Andy Biggs, a member of the influential far-right Freedom Caucus.
But potential far-right defectors could complicate his path even further when the full chamber votes in January.
McCarthy now begins what is expected to be a grueling campaign to win the subsequent vote on Jan. 3, when the 435 newly elected members of the House of Representatives — Democrats and Republicans — will choose their speaker, the third most important political position in the US after president and vice president.
