House counting continues as Republicans seek sweep of White House, Congress

WASHINGTON — Republicans won the presidency and the Senate on Tuesday and could win a narrow majority in the House, where counting continues, that would give them control of the White House and Congress for the next two years, according to unofficial election results.

Republican candidates have won at least 52 of the Senate’s 100 seats, with four races remaining to be called. About 41 of the 435 House elections were still being counted and no winner had been called as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to unofficial vote tallies from The Associated Press. 

The Cook Political Report, which rates candidates’ chances of winning, and some political experts said those uncalled races appeared to be trending toward a modest Republican majority in the next session of Congress beginning in January.

"New York and California were always the road to the majority, and there's still a giant question mark over California. So I just hope that what I saw there on the ground translates to the ballot," House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told the news site Axios on Election Day.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn) said Wednesday that because of "critical open seat holds in Virginia and Michigan, victories in Alabama and Louisiana and flipping four Republican-held seats in New York this year, the House remains very much in play."

He added in a statement: "The path to take back the majority now runs through too-close-to-call pickup opportunities in Arizona, Oregon and Iowa — along with several Democratic-leaning districts in Southern California and the Central Valley."

Senate shift

Republicans will have a majority in the Senate next year with at least 52 seats after they flipped three Democratic seats on Tuesday, and could pick up another seat or two among the four Senate elections that have yet to be called by the AP.

In West Virginia, Republican Gov. Jim Justice defeated Democrat Glenn Eliott, the former mayor of Wheeling, with nearly 70% of the vote after Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin decided against running for a third term.

In Ohio, Republican Bernie Moreno, who runs a technology company, narrowly won his race with about 50% of the vote against three-term Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown. And in Montana, Republican business owner Tim Sheehy defeated three-term Democratic Sen. Jon Tester.

Still pending Wednesday: Arizona — Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego vs. Republican Kari Lake for an open seat; Maine — Republican Demi Kouzounas vs. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats; Nevada — Republican Sam Brown vs. Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen; and Pennsylvania — Republican Dave McCormick vs. Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) easily won her third full term over first-time Republican Senate candidate Mike Sapraicone of North Hills.

But with his Democratic caucus, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will lose his powerful post as Senate majority leader and will become the leader of the Democratic minority.

Next week Senate Republicans will hold an internal election to pick a majority leader to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is stepping down. Candidates include South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Florida Sen. Rick Scott. 

House hold

Republicans hope to pick up enough victories among the still-uncalled races to hold onto their slim majority in the House, which they won in the 2022 election to end the Democrats’ four-year reign.

The majority will go to the party with at least 218 seats in the 435-member House. In the current Congress, Republicans have 220 members and Democrats have 212, with two vacant Democratic seats and one vacant Republican seat.

In New York, Democrats eroded the Republicans’ slim majority by flipping two seats so far in this election — Democrat Josh Riley of Ithaca defeated Rep. Marc Molinaro (R-Red Hook) and Democrat Joseph Mannion of Geddes beat Rep. Brandon Williams (R-Sennett).

In a February special election, Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) won the race to replace disgraced and ousted Rep. George Santos in the 3rd District and defended his seat this week against Republican Mike LiPetri of Farmingdale.

Democrat Laura Gillen, of Rockville Centre, held a slim lead over Rep. Anthony D’Esposito (R-Island Park).

As of 6 p.m. Wednesday, the AP had called 205 seats for Republicans and 189 for Democrats, with 41 pending.

California had the most races without a winner, followed by Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington.

The counting of votes in California might drag on this week, according to the California Voter Foundation, a nonpartisan nonprofit group that seeks to improve the election process.

Causes of delays include a shift to widespread use of vote-by-mail ballots that require more time to process and count, increasingly competitive and close races, and a primary system that sends just the top two vote-getters to a general election, even if from the same party.

James Curry, a University of Utah political science professor who focuses on Congress, said he expects that President-elect Donald Trump will once again have a Republican majority in the House and Senate, as he did in his first two years as president in 2017 and 2018.

"In all likelihood, what you're looking at is a very, very high probability of Republicans maintaining the House — maintaining it with a really narrow majority, just like they have it now — maybe slightly bigger, maybe slightly smaller," Curry said, "and therefore unified party government."