Republicans have gained enough seats to control the US House of Representatives, completing the party’s rise to power and securing their control of the US government alongside President-elect Donald Trump.
A Republican House victory in Arizona, along with a victory in California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. Republicans had previously wrested control of the Senate from Democrats.
With close but slim majorities, Republican leaders are envisioning a mandate to overthrow the federal government and quickly implement Trump’s vision for the country.
The incoming president has promised to carry out the country’s largest-ever deportation operation, extend tax breaks, punish his political enemies, seize control of the federal government’s most powerful tools and reshape the American economy. The GOP’s electoral victories guarantee that Congress will agree to that agenda, and Democrats will be nearly powerless to control it.
When Trump was elected president in 2016, Republicans also swept Congress, but he still found Republican leaders who resisted his political ideas, as well as a Supreme Court with a liberal majority. Not this time.
When he returns to the White House, Trump will work with a Republican Party that has been completely transformed by his “Make America Great Again” movement and a Supreme Court dominated by conservative justices, including three he appointed.
Trump gathered House Republicans at a Capitol hotel on Wednesday morning, marking his first return to Washington since the election.
“I suspect I won’t run again unless they say, ‘He’s good, we need to think about something else,'” Trump said to a room full of lawmakers who laughed in response.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, who with Trump’s backing won the Republican Conference nomination to remain speaker next year, has talked about taking a “blowtorch” to the federal government and its programs, looking for ways to review even popular programs championed by Democrats in recent years. years. The Louisiana Republican, an ardent conservative, has brought the House Republican Conference closer to Trump during the campaign season as they prepare an “ambitious” 100-day agenda.
“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and fulfill that ‘America First’ agenda.”
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Trump’s allies in the House are already signaling that they will seek retaliation for the legal problems Trump faced while out of office. The incoming president said Wednesday that he would nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz, a fierce loyalist, for attorney general.
Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, has said Republican lawmakers are “taking nothing off the table” in their plans to investigate special counsel Jack Smith, even as Smith is shutting down two federal investigations into Trump. for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Still, with a few races still undecided, Republicans may have the majority by just a few seats when the new Congress begins. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the House for positions in his administration (Reps. Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik so far) could complicate Johnson’s ability to maintain a majority in the early days of the new Congress.
Gaetz submitted his resignation on Wednesday, effective immediately. Johnson said he hoped the seat could be filled by the time the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3. Replacements of House members require special elections, and the congressional districts held by the three outgoing members have been held by Republicans for years.
With a slim majority, it is also not guaranteed that the House will function well. The last two years of Republican control of the House were defined by infighting as hardline conservative factions attempted to gain influence and power by openly challenging their party’s leadership. While Johnson – sometimes with Trump’s help – largely subdued open rebellions against his leadership, the party’s right wing is ascendant and ambitious following Trump’s election victory.
The Republican majority also depends on a small group of lawmakers who won difficult elections running as moderates. It remains to be seen whether they will remain in favor of some of the more extreme proposals advocated by Trump and his allies.
Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is trying to keep Democrats relevant to any legislation that passes Congress, an effort that will depend on Democratic leaders unifying more than 200 members, including when the party undergoes a post-mortem evaluation of its electoral defeats.
In the Senate, Republican leaders, who just won a convincing majority, are already working with Trump to confirm his Cabinet picks. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota won an internal election Wednesday to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.
Thune has in the past criticized Trump but praised the incoming president during his leadership campaign.
“This Republican team is united. “We’re on one team,” Thune said. “We are excited to win back the majority and to work with our colleagues in the House to implement President Trump’s agenda.”
The Republican majority in the 53-seat Senate also ensures that Republicans will have breathing room when it comes to confirming Cabinet positions or Supreme Court justices if there is a vacancy. Not all such confirmations are guaranteed. Republicans were incredulous Wednesday when news reached Capitol Hill that Trump would nominate Gaetz as his attorney general. Even Trump’s close allies in the Senate distanced themselves from supporting Gaetz, who was facing a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illicit drug use.
Still, Trump on Sunday demanded that any Republican leader allow him to make administrative appointments without a vote while the Senate is in recess. Such a move would represent a notable shift in the power of the Senate, but all leadership contenders quickly embraced the idea. Democrats could potentially oppose such a move.
Meanwhile, Trump supporters on social media, including Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, railed against electing a traditional Republican to lead the Senate chamber. Thune worked as a top lieutenant for McConnell, who once called the former president a “despicable human being” in his private notes.
However, McConnell made it clear that on Capitol Hill the days of Republican resistance to Trump are over.
