With the GOP poised to retain control of the House, Democrats are calling their doctors for more anxiety pills. Just when they thought things couldn’t get any worse, after losing the presidency to Trump and the Senate to Republicans on the same night, they suddenly did. The numbers trickling in days later show the lower chamber slowly turning solid red.
GOP sweeps into power
When Donald Trump moves back into the White House in January, he’ll have GOP majorities in both the House and the Senate to back him up. The last time Republicans had that advantage, they were saturated with RINO “moderates” who preferred to vote as if they were Democrats.
Most of those have been purged in the past few cycles. Mitt Romney and Liz Chaney, for instance.
Panic stricken Democrats refuse to admit that they’re not going to gain control in the House, as they had hoped. Many races remain too close to call but enough of them are looking solid enough to project a GOP victory. It’s nearly certain that Republicans will pass the 218 seat threshold.
The only thing that remains in question is how much padding their majority will have. A simple one vote edge in both chambers at the same time is enough to make a major difference.
For the next two years, at a very minimum, Republicans will be in the driver’s seat. The only thing Democrats can do is sit back and watch the scenery go by out the window. That, and wave goodbye to all the rapidly deporting migrants. The GOP is holding 213 seats as of Saturday evening, November 9. Democrats are trailing in the dust with 205.
There are 17 House races still not called. Republicans are leading in 9 of those. That indicates 222 for the red team and 211 for the blue. Before the election, it was 222 Republican to 213 Democrat, with Democrats in control of the Senate 51 to 49.
Republicans claim victory
Even though the numbers haven’t been officially certified yet, the Republicans are “wasting no time in claiming victory,” The Hill snarls. Speaker Mike Johnson announced publicly that his chamber “is poised to remain in GOP hands.”
Not only that, anyone who wants to take his gavel is going to have to fight for it. He’ll swing it like an assault hammer at anyone who dares to try.
Democrats simply can’t accept the reality that Donald Trump will actually be allowed to Make America Great Again. Until the very last ballot is counted, recounted and sued over, they aren’t giving up hope. The ranking Democrat from New York, Hakeem Jeffries, snapped at reporters on Thursday that it “has yet to be decided who will control” the House next year.
The GOP hasn’t locked it in yet. He’s keeping the faith that Oregon, Arizona and California will turn things around. It’s not looking likely. No matter how slow Arizona counts the votes, sooner or later they all will be counted.
The Republican Senate win “tees up a high-stakes race for leadership of the chamber, after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced plans earlier this year to step down from leadership.” Tooter the turtle was another of those moderate “RINO” types.
In the early scuffles, “Minority Whip John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, and Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, are considered the front-runners in the race to replace the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.” The GOP clearly has a major advantage. It remains to see if they’ll fully capitalize on it this time.
