As the vote counting continued in the congressional midterm elections held in the US on November 8, Republicans gained the majority by increasing the number of seats in the House of Representatives to 218.
Vote counting for the US congressional midterm elections continues, particularly in California and Colorado, the most populous states in the US.
According to the Associated Press (AP), the Republicans won one more district in California, bringing the number of seats in the House of Representatives to 218 and thus gaining a majority in the House of Representatives.
The Democrats, on the other hand, have so far won 210 seats, but there are still 7 districts in California and Colorado whose results have not yet been finalized.
Republicans are leading in three of them and Democrats in four.
In the House of Representatives, the party that wins 218 seats gains the majority and takes all committee chairmanships, including the Speaker of the House.
Announcing the Republicans’ victory on his Twitter account, Kevin McCarthy, who is expected to become the Speaker of the House of Representatives, said, “Republicans took the House of Representatives from (Speaker Nancy) Pelosi. The American people are ready for a new direction, and House Republicans are ready to take it.”
US President Joe Biden congratulated McCarthy and said he was ready to work with Republicans.
“As I said last week, the future is too precious to be held hostage to political battles. The American people want us to work for them. They want us to focus on the issues that matter to them and improve their lives.”
Republicans have the majority in the House of Representatives and Democrats in the Senate
While the majority in the House of Representatives passed to the Republicans, the majority in the Senate, the other wing of the US Congress, remained with the Democrats.
According to unofficial results, Democrats had secured the majority in the Senate wing of the Congress after Democratic Senatorial candidate Catherine Cortez Nasto defeated her Republican rival Adam Laxalt in Nevada.
With Cortez Nasto’s victory, the Democrats took 50 of the 100-seat Senate while the Republicans remained at 49 seats.
The only state without a senatorial candidate in the midterm elections is Georgia, where Raphael Warnock of the Democrats and Herschel Walker of the Republicans are running.
Warnock and Walker will face each other again in the runoff on December 6 in Georgia, where state law requires candidates to clear at least the 50 percent threshold to win.
Democrat Warnock won 49.4 percent of the statewide vote in the November 8 midterm elections, while his Republican opponent won 48.5 percent.
On December 6, in a runoff election scheduled to be held in Georgia, Democrats will hold a majority of 50 seats in the 100-member Senate, regardless of the outcome.
Thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote, even if Republicans win Georgia in the runoff and the seat distribution is 50-50, Democrats will still have a majority in the Senate.
By law, the Vice President of the United States serves as President of the Senate and can cast a tie-breaking vote.
