The Associated Press predicts that Republicans will maintain a majority in the House of Representatives and that President-elect Trump will win a majority in both chambers.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said he will actively work to implement President Trump’s policies, including tax cuts, deportation, energy policy, and regulatory reform.
“We’re going to fly the America First flag here,” Johnson said at a news conference shortly after the election. “The American people want us to implement America First policies, and we must do it while we have the energy and excitement to do so.”
Republicans also flipped the Senate majority, gaining 53 seats and gaining seats in Ohio, West Virginia, Montana, and Pennsylvania.
The party is expected to win seats in the lower house by a narrow margin, and it is still unclear whether it will gain or lose seats. Most of them are in California, although some races have yet to be called.
Republicans held 221 House seats last Congress, but their margins were so slim that there was not much room for defection on party-line votes. Rep. Kevin McCarthy was elected speaker on the 15th ballot in January 2023, but was ousted nine months later after a small minority of hardliners defected. After three weeks of infighting, Johnson took the gavel.
Democrats had hoped to flip the House with strong votes in California and New York that would deny President Trump the ability to advance his legislative agenda, but they fell short of that goal.
Johnson said that when Trump first took office in 2017, Republicans were “underprepared for that moment and valuable time was wasted.”
“We will not make these mistakes again,” Johnson said. “We’ll be ready on the first day. We’ll be ready this time.”
Johnson said Republicans intend to use the budget reconciliation process, which allows legislation to pass without a Senate filibuster, to achieve their regulatory and tax policy goals.
