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Control of US House Hangs in Balance   11/07 06:09

   The U.S. House majority hung in the balance Wednesday, teetering between 
Republican control that would usher in a new era of unified GOP governance in 
Washington or a flip to Democrats as a last line of resistance to a Trump 
second-term White House agenda.

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. House majority hung in the balance Wednesday, 
teetering between Republican control that would usher in a new era of unified 
GOP governance in Washington or a flip to Democrats as a last line of 
resistance to a Trump second-term White House agenda.

   A few individual seats, or even a single one, will determine the outcome. 
Final tallies will take a while, likely pushing the decision into next week -- 
or beyond.

   After Republicans swept into the majority in the U.S. Senate by picking up 
seats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted 
his chamber would fall in line next.

   "Republicans are poised to have unified government in the White House, 
Senate and House," Johnson said Wednesday.

   President-elect Donald Trump, who won the Electoral College and the popular 
vote against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, has consolidated growing 
power around his MAGA movement, backing newcomers to Washington and setting the 
stage for his own return to the White House.

   Johnson said Republicans in Congress are preparing an "ambitious" 100-day 
agenda with Trump, who he has said is "thinking big" about his legacy.

   Tax cuts, securing the southern border and taking a "blowtorch" to federal 
regulations are at the top of the agenda if the GOP sweeps the White House and 
Congress. Trump himself has promised mass deportations and retribution against 
his perceived enemies. And Republicans want to push federal agencies out of 
Washington and to restaff the government workforce with the help of outside 
think tanks, Johnson has said, to bring the federal government "to heel."

   But Johnson, after just a year on the job, has had difficulty governing the 
House, and the new Congress would be no different. Hard-liners led by Rep. 
Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Matt Gaetz and others have often confronted and 
upended their own GOP leadership in what has been one of the most chaotic 
sessions in modern times.

   If Johnson's slim four-seat majority were to shrink any further, governing 
could come to a standstill.

   Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the House "remains very much 
in play."

   With Democrats having defeated two House Republicans in Jeffries' home state 
of New York, he said the path to the majority now runs through pickup 
opportunities in Arizona, Oregon, Iowa and California that are still too early 
to call.

   "We must count every vote," Jeffries said.

   The House contests remained a tit-for-tat fight to the finish, with no 
dominant pathway to the majority for either party. Rarely, if ever have the two 
chambers of Congress flipped in opposite directions.

   Each side is gaining and losing a few seats, including through the 
redistricting process, which is the routine redrawing of House seat boundary 
lines. The process reset seats in North Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama.

   Much of the outcome hinges on the West, particularly in California, where a 
handful of House seats are being fiercely contested, and mail-in ballots 
arriving a week after the election will still be counted. Hard-fought races 
around the "blue dot" in Omaha, Nebraska and in far-flung Alaska are among 
those being watched.

   Trump, speaking early Wednesday at his election night party in Florida, said 
the results delivered an "unprecedented and powerful mandate" for Republicans.

   He called the Senate rout "incredible," and he praised Johnson, saying he's 
"doing a terrific job."

   From the U.S. Capitol, Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell, privately a harsh 
Trump critic, called it a "hell of a good day."

   Senate Republicans marched across the map alongside Trump, flipping the 
three Democratic-held seats and holding their own against Democratic 
challengers who failed to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas and Sen. Rick Scott in 
Florida.

   In West Virginia, Jim Justice, the state's wealthy governor, flipped the 
seat held by retiring Sen. Joe Manchin. Republicans toppled Democrat Sen. 
Sherrod Brown in Ohio with GOP luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur 
Bernie Moreno. And Republican Tim Sheehy defeated Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in 
Montana.

   Democrats avoided a total wipeout by salvaging seats in the "blue wall" 
states. Rep. Elissa Slotkin won an open Senate seat in Michigan, and Sen. Tammy 
Baldwin was reelected in Wisconsin. Pennsylvania's race between Democratic Sen. 
Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick was still undecided.

   In other developments, Democrats made history by sending two Black women, 
Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, to the 
Senate. Just thee Black women, including Harris, have served in the Senate, but 
never two at the same time.

   All told, Senate Republicans have the potential to achieve their most robust 
majority in years -- a testament to McConnell, who made a career charting a 
path to power, this time aligned with Trump whom he has privately called 
"despicable" in the run-up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.

   During a news conference Wednesday, McConnell declined to answer questions 
about his past stark criticism of Trump and said he viewed the election results 
as a referendum on the Biden administration.

   He told reporters at the Capitol that a Senate under Republican control 
would "control the guardrails" and prevent changes in Senate rules that would 
end the filibuster.

   "People were just not happy with this administration and the Democratic 
nominee was a part of it," McConnell said.

   What's still unclear is who will lead the new Republican Senate, as 
McConnell prepares to step down from the post.

   South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 2 Republican, and Texas Sen. John 
Cornyn, who previously held that post, are the front-runners to replace 
McConnell in a secret-ballot election scheduled for when senators arrive in 
Washington next week.

 
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