Republicans gain control of both houses of Congress in huge boost to Trump

Republicans will control both houses of Congress next year, giving Donald Trump control of all three branches of government.

The GOP has held onto their narrow majority, allowing them the chance to pass much of the President-elect’s agenda when he is sworn in next year. The victory means House Speaker Mike Johnson will almost certainly stay in his position and comes after Senate Republicans flipped the upper chamber.

Democrats flipped a number of races, including in California and New York. But they did not win enough to make up for losses of incumbent Democrats like Yadira Caraveo in Colorado or the Republicans flipping Michigan’s open 7th district seat that was vacated when Elissa Slotkin won her senate race. Democratic Representatives Susan Wild and Matt Cartwright of Pennsylvania both fell short.

Many races remain uncalled, but Republicans have earned the required 218 votes to keep the lower chamber.

Democrats lost three seats as Senator Jon Tester failed to win re-election in Montana. Republicans flipped another seat in West Virginia with Governor Jim Justice winning a seat left vacant by conservative Democrat-turned-independent Senator Joe Manchin, who is retiring at the end of the year. On top of that, Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio lost to Republican car dealer Bernie Moreno.

Incumbent Democratic Senators Jacky Rosen of Nevada and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin narrowly won re-election.

While the Associated Press called Pennsylvania’s Senate race for Republican Dave McCormick, Democratic Senator Bob Casey’s campaign has yet to concede, arguing that some uncounted ballots could mean Casey could pull ahead.

Senator-elect Ruben Gallego of Arizona dispatched election denier Kari Lake to replace Democrat-turned-independent Kyrsten Sinema.

But the wins will not be enough for Democrats to serve as a check on Trump.

Senate Republicans also faced a major shift on Wednesday and nominated Senate Minority Whip John Thune to succeed Mitch McConnell as majority leader.

But the slim margins in the House and Senate mean that Republicans will have a difficult time passing much of Trump’s agenda, such as laws restricting immigration or extending the tax cuts Trump signed in 2017.

Trump has so far nominated two members of the House Republican conference to serve in his administration. On Monday, he named Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik as his US ambassador to the United Nations and he will also reportedly nominate Michael Waltz of Florida to serve as his national security adviser.