More than a week after Election Day, Republicans 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 the GOP 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, Democrats have shown surprising resilience, holding modest, suburban districts from Virginia to Minnesota and Kansas. The results could complicate House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy’s plans to become speaker, as some conservative members have questioned whether to support him or have placed conditions on their support. McCarthy, R-Calif., celebrated his party “officially flipping” the House on Twitter Wednesday night, writing: “Americans are ready for a new direction and House Republicans are ready to deliver.” Current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., issued a statement Wednesday night saying, “In the next Congress, House Democrats will continue to play a leadership role in supporting President Biden’s agenda — with strong leverage to a slim Republican majority.” Biden congratulated McCarthy, saying he is “ready to work with House Republicans to deliver results for working families.” “Last week’s election demonstrated the strength and resilience of American democracy. There has been intense rejection of election naysayers, political violence and intimidation,” Biden said in a statement. “There was an emphatic statement that, in America, the will of the people prevails.” He added that “the future is too bright to get caught up in political war.” Narrow margins have upended Republican politics and led to finger-pointing about what went wrong. Some in the GOP have blamed Donald Trump for the worse-than-expected result. The former president, who announced his third bid for the White House on Tuesday, has fielded candidates during this year’s Republican primaries who have often disputed the results of the 2020 election or downplayed the mob attack on the US Capitol last year. Many of them struggled to win during the general election. Despite the GOP’s unassuming appearance, the party will still have considerable power. Republicans will take control of key committees, allowing them to shape legislation and launch investigations into Biden, his family and his administration. There is particular interest in the investigation into the business dealings of the president’s son Hunter Biden. 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 a Dec. 6 Senate runoff in Georgia as a last chance to shore up their positions. With such a potentially slim House majority, there is also the potential for 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 GOP leaders as they try to win support for must-pass measures that keep the government funded or raise the debt ceiling. The GOP’s failure to post more victories — it needed a net gain of five seats to take a majority — was particularly surprising because the party went into the election benefiting from congressional maps redrawn by Republican legislatures. History was also on the side of the Republicans: The party that holds the White House had lost seats in Congress during almost every new president’s first midterm in the modern era. The new majority will usher in a new set of leaders in Washington. If elected to succeed 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. GOP 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 GOP 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 bet on and promised: “You’re not going to change anything in any fundamental way.” The AP VoteCast, a broad survey of the national electorate, showed that high inflation and concerns about the fragility of democracy had heavily influenced voters. Half of voters said inflation has been significantly affected, with groceries, gas, housing, food and other costs having soared in the past year. Slightly fewer – 44% – said the future of democracy was their primary concern. Contrary to Democratic Party expectations, Biden did not shoulder the full blame for inflation, with nearly half of voters saying higher-than-usual prices were more due to factors outside his control. And despite the president being criticized by a pessimistic electorate, some of those voters supported Democratic candidates. Democrats also likely benefited from anger over the Supreme Court overturning the landmark Roe v. Wade decision that established a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion. Voters in Michigan voted to amend their state constitution to protect abortion rights, while far more reliably Republican Kentucky rejected a constitutional amendment that does not state the right to abortion. Overall, 7 in 10 voters said the Supreme Court’s decision overturning the 1973 decision that guaranteed abortion rights was an important factor in their midterm decisions. VoteCast also showed that the reversal was generally unpopular. About 6 in 10 say they are angry or unhappy about it. And about 6 in 10 say they favor a law guaranteeing access to legal abortion nationwide.
Learn more about the issues and factors playing out in the midterm elections at And follow AP’s election coverage of the 2022 elections at
