Election 2016: Republicans projected to retain control of the US House of Representatives
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Version 3 of 5. The Republican party will retain control of the US House of Representatives, according to news network projections. It was unclear late on Tuesday night exactly how many of its 247 seats in the 435-member House the GOP would keep, but the 2016 election cycle never provided a sufficient number of swing districts to offer Democrats a realistic path to a majority. The Democrats were expected to pick up some seats, but even a depleted Republican majority could make governing difficult for a President Hillary Clinton, by blocking her legislative agenda – especially if the Senate also remains with the GOP. A Republican Congress working with a President Donald Trump, by contrast, would face little to no opposition in enacting sweeping policy change. The lower house of Congress always looked likely to remain in GOP hands for at least the next two-year cycle, with RealClearPolitics predicting the day before the election that 225 seats leaned at least somewhat Republican – seven more than the 218 required for a majority. Paul Ryan, the Republican House Speaker, has indicated that he intends to stay in the role. The Democrats’ hopes of taking back the US Senate were also fading last night, as they managed to claim just one seat back from the GOP among the earliest results to be called. Tammy Duckworth, a former US Army helicopter pilot who lost both legs in combat during the Iraq War, was projected to beat incumbent Republican Senator Mark Kirk in Illinois. That, however, was just one of the five seats the party needed to turn over the GOP’s 54-46 Senate majority in what ought to have been a vulnerable year for the Republicans, who were defending 24 seats compared to the Democrats’ 10. Former 2016 presidential hopeful Marco Rubio overcame Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy to keep his Senate seat in Florida, while John McCain, the 80-year-old Arizona Senator who lost the 2008 presidential race to Barack Obama, comfortably defeated Democratic Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick to ensure he will serve another term in Washington. House members serve two-year terms, while Senators are elected for six years. Should Mr Trump claim the White House and Republicans keep control of both houses of Congress, it would put the US on the brink of sweeping legislative change, with both Mr Trump and Mr Ryan in a position to pass their policy agendas without any Democratic opposition. It would also all but guarantee that the US Supreme Court would swing back towards the right, with a Republican-controlled Senate approving conservative justices nominated by a Republican president. |