Following midterm elections that saw President Joe Biden’s Democrats beat expectations and retain control over the Senate, the control of the US House of Representatives hinges on several tight races that could secure a majority for Republicans.
Democrats’ better-than-expected performance was portrayed by party members as vindication of their agenda and a rebuke of GOP efforts to undermine the election results’ validity.
Having secured 212 seats compared to Democrats’ 204 – with 218 needed for a majority- Republicans were closer to winning the House but as officials continue counting ballots nearly a week after Americans went to the polls, the final outcome might not be known for days.
Climbing above the 200-mark, Republicans held a narrow edge as of Wednesday morning with 18 races still outstanding – 13 of which are considered closely competitive- in several states, including Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Oregon according to a Reuters compilation of the leading nonpartisan forecasters.
Ten of the remaining contests were in liberal-leaning California, the nation’s most populous state, where pundits predicted that they could end up determining if the control of the House of Representatives ends up with the GOP or the Democrats.
About a dozen of about 52 House contests in California remained uncertain by Wednesday, such as the close races in Southern California districts in which Democratic Rep. Katie Porter – is considered the star of the progressive part of her party- and Mike Levin were locked in.
Reports say Republicans believe that as many as five districts in California could swing their way.
In other high-profile uncalled races, Republican Kari Lake, who promoted Trump’s 2020 election fraud claims, was trailing her Democratic opponent in the Arizona governor contest; Democrat Marilyn Strickland won reelection to the House in Washington’s 10th Congressional district and Republican Thomas Kean Jr. won reelection to the House in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, beating incumbent Tom Malinowski.
If Republicans take control of the House, a lot of things would change starting with the fact that Nancy Pelosi would lose the Speaker in the House and Democrats would no longer be in charge of committees.
It would set the stage for divided government in the next two years with Biden’s opponents having the power to launch potentially damaging probes into his administration – including the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the origin of Covid and pandemic lockdowns- and family and limit his political agenda.
As the Republican congressman from Indiana Jim Banks pointed out, his party will serve as the last line of defense to block the Biden agenda as a focal point of every single committee in Congress.
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