WASHINGTON: Republicans on Saturday were close to clinching control of the U.S. House of Representatives, a critical element for President-elect Donald Trump to advance his agenda when he returns to the White House in January.
With votes still being counted from the Nov. 5 general election, Republicans had won 213 seats in the 435-member House, according to Edison Research, which projected on Saturday night that Representative Dan Newhouse had enough votes to keep Republican control of Colorado’s 3rd congressional district.
Republicans need to win five more seats to keep control of the House and they already have enough victories to wrest control of the U.S. Senate from Democrats, though Edison Research projected late on Friday that Democratic U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen won reelection in Nevada.
Edison Research said Democrats have won 205 seats so far, including projecting on Saturday that Representative Greg Stanton in Arizona had won re-election. Democrats would need to win 13 of the remaining 17 seats to take control.
With Trump’s victory in the presidential election and Republicans winning control of the Senate, keeping hold of the House would give Republicans sweeping powers to potentially ram through a broad agenda of tax and spending cuts, energy deregulation, and border security controls.
Most of the remaining 17 House races are in competitive districts in Western states where the pace of vote counting is typically slower than in the rest of the country.
Nine of the seats are currently held by Republicans and eight by Democrats. Fourteen seats were widely seen as competitive ahead of the election.
Republican senators will decide next week who will serve as the party’s leader in the Senate in 2025 with John Thune, John Cornyn and Rick Scott vying for the job. On Saturday, Senators Bill Hagerty and Rand Paul endorsed Scott over the more senior Thune and Cornyn, who have been viewed as favorites.
Cornyn vowed late on Saturday that if he wins he will keep the Senate in session until Trump’s cabinet is confirmed.
“No weekends, no breaks. Democrats can cooperate in the best interest of the country, or continue the resistance, which will eventually be ground down,” he wrote on X.