Republicans, as had been predicted, likely will be the House majority in the new Congress after the first of the year, and should that happen there will be a lot of changes in Washington.
The party held the lead in House seats throughout election night, taking the lead immediately and being up by as many as 60 seats before the last few dozen seats were heading for decisions. At about 2 a.m. Eastern, Republicans were up 189 seats to 154 for Democrats.
If they are the majority, Nancy Pelosi no longer would be speaker, losing her privileges, special status and extra pay.
Her partisan Jan. 6 investigation commission? Likely on the scrap heap.
Instead, investigations of Anthony Fauci and COVID. And Hunter Biden and his laptop. Possibly even Joe Biden and those payments to the Biden family empire that appear to have come from unusual sources in China and Russia.
Further, Joe Biden’s spending will be tempered by the GOP agenda and its priorities. Unless, of course, Biden jumps off into the ocean of random executive orders more.
And don’t forget impeachments. Some GOP members already have discussed using it as a political tool against Biden, as Democrats did against President Trump. A simple majority in the House could leave Biden, as Pelosi charged against Trump, “impeached forever,” even though involuntary removal from office would be unlikely.
Others are saying it should be used legitimately to remove some of Biden’s appointees, the ones Republicans say are straying far beyond their constitutional authority.
The BBC reported, “With any form of majority, Republicans will be able to slam the door shut on the Democratic legislative agenda and ramp up investigations into the Biden administration. That is a win by any measure.”
The numbers in the House were lining up for Republicans even despite Biden’s whole-of-government agenda to recruit voters from Democrat-leaning groups, and many of the questionable procedures regarding mail-in ballots and such used during 2020 still in place in states.
Control of the Senate remained dependent on several races that still had not been called. That perhaps more than a lot of other factors documented the deep divisions that exist across America between the parties.
While Biden boasted of becoming a “unifier” during his campaign for the presidency, his actions have done exactly the opposite, pushing far apart the two sides with his agenda for abortion, transgenderism, an open southern border and huge deficit spending.
Then there was his insistence that conservatives are “semi-fascists” and that voting against a Democrat was voting against democracy itself, even though the United States is a republic.
The House flip to the GOP may well foretell bad news for Democrats in the next presidential race, just two years out, too.
It may be that Joe Biden runs; maybe not.
Fox Business reported majorities of voters blamed Biden for rising consumer prices, identifying that as the single most important issue for them.
“The Fox News Voter Analysis election survey showed that 51% of voters nationwide characterize increasing prices for gas, groceries and other goods as the single most important factor in deciding how to vote. Another 42% said rising prices are an important factor, but not the most factor,” the report explained.
“Of the voters who said inflation is the largest factor, 63% backed the Republican candidate in their House district while 33% voted for the Democrat.”
Further, a majority blamed Biden’s policies for inflation, and 81% of those individuals “went for the Republican,” the report said.
It continued, “About 157 million Americans, roughly 61% of the nation’s population, are living paycheck to paycheck because of high inflation, survey data from Lending Club showed. That number is up from 55% recorded in June 2021.”
The GOP advance got started with a non-voting U.S. congressional delegate from Guam.
Because of the time zones, that election was final early Tuesday, and had Republican James Moylan, a senator in the island’s legislature, defeating Democrat Judith Won Pat.
He’s only the second Republican elected to that seat, a non-voting position in Congress, since 1972.
The Republicans also struck first in race for the 435 voting House seats, with declared victors in Kentucky and South Carolina to start the race with a 3-0 lead. The Republicans trailed during the last Congress by only a handful of votes, meaning picking up 3 to 5 seats gives them the majority, which has been predicted for weeks now.
Projections before the votes were counted estimated the GOP essentially had secured 228 House seats, enough for a majority which starts at 218, and well above the 212 from the previous Congress.
That included none of the 33 seats considered tossups.
Democrats were projected, without the tossups, to have 174.
A couple of those on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s special partisan committee looking into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol are on their way out. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., lost her primary after repeatedly attacking President Trump, and re. Elaine Luria, D-Va., was trailing in her race.
One of the more controversial figures in the House, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., was projected to win re-election over challenger Marcus Flowers, who raised some $15 million to challenger her.
Her district is dominated by the GOP. She is among the Republicans who openly have talked about impeaching Joe Biden. Democrats, infuriated with her, stripped her of committee assignments, which is expected to have restored in a GOP majority House.
A close ally of Greene, Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., also won re-election, defeating Rebekah Jones. Both are close allies of President Trump.
Jones made headlines in 2020 when she alleged Florida was manipulating its COVID-19 data, a claim found to be false by a report by state Inspector General Michael Bennett.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, D-N.Y., also won re-election in her heavily Democrat district, after having established a reputation for making wild claims about climate change bringing an end to civilization as it is known in just years.
Pelosi, asked by a reporter about the Democrats losing the House majority, which would cost her the speaker’s seat, privileges, and extra pay, she said, “I’m not predicating any action on the Democrats not winning tonight, so that’s a conversation for another day.”
