Nick Begich’s flip of Alaska’s lone House seat will pad Republicans’ slim House majority — but with several members departing to join President-elect Donald Trump’s administration and just three races left to be decided, the party could enter the new year with very little room for error.
That narrow majority could shape a great deal on Capitol Hill — from how House Speaker Mike Johnson handles a looming government funding fight and unhappiness from his right flank, to who governors consider appointing to fill Senate vacancies — when the new Congress is sworn in on January 3 and Trump takes office 17 days later.
Two weeks post-Election Day, both parties are closely watching a handful of House races in which a winner had not yet been decided. On Wednesday, winners emerged in two of those races: Begich ousted Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola as Alaska tallied its ranked-choice ballots late Wednesday. And, hours earlier, final vote tallies in Ohio padded Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s narrow edge in the Toledo-based 9th District.
Balance of power: Those outcomes mean Republicans have won 219 House seats to Democrats’ 213, according to CNN’s projections. The undecided races are California’s 13th and 45th districts, where ballots are still being counted, and Iowa’s 1st District, where GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks leads by about 800 votes ahead of a recount.
However, Trump is poaching the Republicans who hold — or until recently held — three of those seats, to join his still-forming administration. The president-elect could select more GOP House members as he fills out the remainder of his Cabinet and other administration positions.
So far, he has tapped Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz for attorney general, Florida Rep. Michael Waltz as his national security adviser and New York Rep. Elise Stefanik as his nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations. Gaetz immediately resigned his House seat and said he wouldn’t take his seat in January. Waltz and Stefanik remain House members for now.
Their seats, which are all expected to remain in Republican hands, will be filled via special elections — but when those elections will take place, and when the winners will be seated in Congress, is not yet clear.
Read more about how the remaining House races could impact the GOP’s narrow majority in the chamber.
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