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WASHINGTON — With Republicans winning the White House and the U.S. Senate, the focus is on nearly 30 U.S. House races, mostly in Western states, where a winner has yet to be decided.
The stakes are high. If the GOP maintains control of the 435-seat House, where the party on Thursday held an edge, President-elect Donald Trump will have unified party control in Congress next year. That would give the new president much greater ability to win approval of his initiatives on tax cuts, spending, immigration and other priorities.
In addition, Trump would also have a favorable conservative 6-3 Supreme Court majority.
To seize control of the House, and make it difficult for Trump to implement much of his agenda, Democrats must have a net gain of four seats. But, as of Thursday, it was not clear the party could reach that goal.
House Democratic leaders and their GOP counterparts held separate Zoom calls with lawmakers to discuss the state of play. GOP leaders were optimistic, and Democratic leaders defiant, and both were optimistic final results would give them a majority.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., assured GOP lawmakers that not only would Republicans continue to control the chamber, but also have a “mandate” to govern.
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, who like all Minnesota U.S. House incumbents won reelection on Tuesday, said Trump’s name on the top of the ticket gave the GOP victories in competitive congressional districts.
“We need to give the most credit to Donald J. Trump — he pulled many of our candidates across the finish line,” said Emmer, according to Punchbowl News.
Meanwhile, in a statement released before House Democrats held their private meeting, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, was more cautious about the status of House races, saying “we must count every vote” in outstanding states like Arizona and California.
The close nature of many races may mean recounts could delay the determination on which party controls the House. And some states allow mail-in ballots received after Election Day to be counted, which is also delaying the tally.
For example, California, the state with the most uncalled U.S. House races, allows mail-in ballots received up until seven days after Election Day to be counted as long as they were postmarked by Nov. 5.
Even if the GOP continues to hold on to control of the House, the party may have an even slimmer majority in that chamber in the next Congress than it currently holds — which may hurt the ability to move some legislation.
Still, Johnson on Thursday promised Republican lawmakers that he would lead them in an ambitious 100-day agenda after the new Congress is gaveled in in January.
There’s another way Democrats could slow and even block Republican initiatives. Although the party lost control of the Senate in this week’s election, Republicans won’t have a filibuster-proof majority in the chamber.
The breakdown of the Senate in the next Congress is now 53 Republicans and 45 Democrats, with two races yet to be called.
The GOP would need 60 votes to override a filibuster. However, the flip of the Senate has plunged Minnesota’s Democratic senators — Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith — into the minority, limiting their ability to advance legislation.
Harris’ swan song
A day after she had hoped to give a victory speech at her alma mater, Howard University, but never did, Harris returned to the historical Black college in Washington, D.C., to give her concession speech.
“The outcome of this election is not what we wanted, not what we fought for, not what we voted for,” she said. “But hear me when I say — the light of America’s promise will always burn bright as long as we never give up and as long as we keep fighting.”
Harris said that out of loyalty to the U.S. Constitution, her supporters should accept the results of the election.
Harris also called President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday to congratulate him and briefly discuss the “importance of a peaceful transfer of power.”
“President Trump acknowledged Vice President Harris on her strength, professionalism, and tenacity throughout the campaign, and both leaders agreed on the importance of unifying the country,” said Steven Cheung, communications director of the Trump campaign, in a statement.
In case you missed it:
- Peter Callaghan wrote that Gov. Tim Walz returned from his failed effort to become the nation’s vice president to serve out his term as governor. But he may not have the help of a DFL-controlled Legislature as ballots for several House races are still being counted. And predictions of a “domino effect,” with Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan and other DFLers getting political promotions were dashed by a Trump victory, too.
- We also had a story about whether Walz contributed to Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat, especially since a constituency Walz was expected to connect with — white male voters — moved decisively to the Trump camp and voters in most of the counties in the nation — including 83 in Minnesota — moved to the right in the election.
- Meanwhile, reporter Winter Keefer wrote about several referendums that were on the ballot Tuesday. Voters approved a St. Paul referendum that will switch local odd-year elections to even years and another that will raise a technology levy for the Minneapolis Public Schools. But St. Paul voters rejected a child care tax proposal that the city’s mayor strongly opposed, saying it over promised and would have under delivered.
Your questions and comments
A very angry reader took issue with a comment by statistician Nate Silver, who assessed the strengths of Gov. Tim Walz and Sen. JD Vance as vice presidential candidates. Silver found Walz wanting, but said Vance was “the worst pick” Donald Trump could have made.
“Vance was a huge lift to Trump after he showed in the debate that he was nothing like, the in the bag for Harris media, tarred him to be,” the reader wrote.
Another reader agreed with Silver that Harris might have done better in selecting Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate.
“Governor Walz was not the best choice,” the reader wrote. “Democrats needed Pennsylvania.”
The same reader also predicted “health care, education, social security and the environment are in for a rough time” during the next Trump presidency.
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond.
Ana Radelat
Ana Radelat is MinnPost’s Washington, D.C. correspondent. You can reach her at aradelat@minnpost.com or follow her on Twitter at @radelat.
