But an unbridled majority would pose immediate challenges to Republican leaders and complicate the party’s ability to govern. More than a week after Election Day, Republicans have secured the 218th seat needed to wrest control of the House from Democrats. The full extent of the party’s majority may not be clear for several more days — or weeks — as votes in competitive races are still being counted. But they are on track to put together the party’s narrowest majority of the 21st century, rivaling 2001 when Republicans held just a nine-seat majority, 221-212 with two independents. That’s a far cry from the sweeping 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 flagging popularity. Instead, Democrats have shown surprising resilience, holding modest, suburban districts from Virginia to Minnesota and Kansas. The results could complicate House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy’s plans to become president, with some conservative members either questioning whether to back him or putting conditions on their support. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy will run to become speaker of the House. (J. Scott Applewhite/The Associated Press)
A small majority but a remarkable force
Narrow margins have upended Republican politics and led to finger-pointing about what went wrong. Some in the party have blamed Donald Trump for the worse-than-expected result. The former president, who announced Tuesday that he is campaigning to become the Republican nominee for president in 2024, has fielded candidates during this year’s primaries who have struggled to win in the general midterm elections. Despite the party’s unassuming appearance, Republicans will still wield considerable power. They will take control of key committees, allowing them to craft legislation and launch investigations into Biden, his family and his administration. There is particular interest in investigating the business dealings of the president’s son, Hunter Biden, overseas. Some of the more conservative lawmakers have raised the prospect of impeaching Biden, though that will be much more difficult for the party to achieve with a narrow majority. Any legislation that emerges from the House could face strong odds in the Senate, where Democrats won an outright majority on Saturday. Both parties are eyeing the Dec. 6 Senate runoff in Georgia as an opportunity to shore up their positions. With such a slim majority in the House, there is also a chance of legislative chaos. The dynamic essentially gives a single member enormous influence in shaping what happens in the chamber. That could lead to particularly difficult conditions for Republican leaders as they try to win support for must-pass measures that keep the government funded or raise the debt ceiling. The party’s failure to post more wins — it needed a net gain of five seats to take a majority — was particularly surprising because it went into the election benefiting from congressional maps that had been redrawn by Republican legislatures. History has also been on the GOP’s side: The party that holds the White House has lost seats in Congress during nearly every new president’s first midterm in the modern era. US President Joe Biden and his family could be the target of House investigations. (Leah Millis/Reuters)
No fundamental changes are planned, says Biden
The new majority will usher in a new set of leaders in Washington. If elected to succeed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the top job, McCarthy will lead a raucous conference of House Republicans, most of whom are aligned with Trump’s brand of politics. Many Republicans in the incoming Congress have dismissed the results of the 2020 presidential election, even as allegations of widespread fraud have been dismissed by courts, election officials and Trump’s own attorney general. McCarthy won the nomination for Speaker of the House on Tuesday, with a formal vote to take place when the new Congress convenes in January. “I am proud to announce that the era of one-party Democratic rule in Washington is over,” McCarthy said after winning the nomination. Republican candidates pledged on the campaign trail to cut taxes and strengthen border security. Republican lawmakers could also halt aid to Ukraine as it wages war with Russia or use the threat of the country’s debt default as leverage to extract cuts from social spending and entitlements — though all of those pursuits would be more tough given how small the majority can end up being. As a senator and then vice president, Biden spent a career brokering legislative compromises with Republicans. But as president, he was clear about the threats he saw from today’s Republican Party. Biden said the midterm elections show that voters want Democrats and Republicans to find ways to work together and govern in a bipartisan way, but he also noted that Republicans have not achieved the electoral surge they had banked on and vowed: “I’m not going to change anything in any fundamental way.”
