More than a week after the election, a small number of House and Senate races are still undecided, but all signs are pointing to something like a red surge few had predicted for Congress. That’s a shock because media pundits and Democrats had predicted a blue wave that never materialized. The Associated Press is reporting Democrats have been “blindsided.”
As of Wednesday, Republicans appear to have secured 50 seats in the next Senate as they’re now expected to win in Alaska and North Carolina. Plus, they have a strong chance of winning two more in Senate runoff elections in Georgia in January. Democrats are believed to have won 48 Senate seats.
And even though Democrats say they’ve won the 218 seats needed for a majority in the House of Representatives, their margin of control is much smaller than it was before this election, and it could be razor-thin.
Democrats went into the election with a 232-197 House advantage. There were also five open seats, plus one independent lawmaker. The AP says Republicans have won 202 seats so far. But there are more than a dozen races still undecided in states like California, Utah and New York, and Republican candidates are currently leading in most of those races.
The bottom line: House Democrats have lost a number of seats rather than gaining seats in this election. That includes one of the latest in Southern California, where the Republican challenger Michelle Steel ousted the Democrat incumbent, Rep. Harley Rouda. This is only the second time in more than two decades a GOP candidate has defeated an incumbent Democrat in California.
“The Republican coalition is bigger, more diverse, more energetic than ever before,” said House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy R-Calif.
Additionally, Republican David Valadao currently leads in California’s 21st Congressional District against T.J. Cox by 4,000 votes. And Utah’s Fourth Congressional District is being carefully watched as Republican challenger Burgess Owens leads Rep. Ben McAdams by less than half a percentage point.
In January, at least 14 new pro-life GOP women will take the oath in the House. That number will include seven congresswomen who defeated Democrats in last week’s election.
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