Republicans have secured at least 218 seats in the House of Representatives, giving them a small majority over the Democrats. There are still several races in the 435-member chamber of Congress that have yet to be decided following last week’s midterm elections.
“Americans are ready for a new direction, and House Republicans are ready to deliver,” said soon-to-be Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).
“I’m proud to announce the era of one-party Democrat rule in Washington is over,” he added.
President Joe Biden congratulated McCarthy for his party’s victory.
“In this election, voters spoke clearly about their concerns: the need to lower costs, protect the right to choose, and preserve our democracy,” Biden said in a statement. “I will work with anyone—Republican or Democrat—willing to work with me to deliver results for them.”
Any legislation coming out of the House will face a tough climb in the Senate as the Democratic Party maintained control of the upper house following a tight victory in the Nevada midterm election.
Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto’s win brought the Democrats to the minimum 50 seats they needed to keep the Senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris’s vote representing the decisive tiebreaker.
A final Senate seat still needs to be determined in Georgia, where Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock will face off against GOP candidate Herschel Walker in a Dec. 6 runoff.
The GOP hoped for a “red wave” going into the midterm elections. That did not materialize, giving the Republicans a slim margin of victory and what could become “the party’s narrowest majority of the 21st century, rivaling 2001, when Republicans had just a nine-seat majority, 221-212 with two independents,” the Associated Press reported.
