GOP Wins Control of the House, Narrowly

Abstract

Republicans have won control of the House of Representatives, but with a bare minimum majority, according to the Associated Press on Nov. 16. With some races still not settled, the GOP had 218 seats, the threshold needed for a majority. Democrats had 211, with a half-dozen races yet to be "Called" by the AP.Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, the House Republican leader, on Nov. 16 won the election to be Speaker of the House, with the change to take effect when Congress convenes in January. McCarthy said, "The era of one-party Democrat rule in Washington is over. Washington now has a check and balance." Still, with such a thin majority of fewer than 10 seats at best, McCarthy will have a difficult task of moving legislation in a Republican conference that is not completely unified. Any Republican-backed House bills could well die in the Senate, where Democrats will still have a majority. The changeover in the House will make it more difficult for the Biden administration to move legislation, though infrastructure advocates are hopeful that their issue will be a bipartisan exception.