Updated 4 months ago
GOP infighting a staple of the 118th Congress
Republicans regained control of the House in the 2022 midterm elections after four years of Democratic rule. But Republican Party infighting made it difficult to govern with a slim majority, amid early retirements and the expulsion of Rep. George Santos, whose seat was later won by a Democrat.
In January 2023, former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy of California finally won the speaker’s gavel after 15 votes amid a prolonged – and public – struggle with conservatives who demanded concessions, foreshadowing the limits of his power over a fractured party.
His agreement with far-right Republicans to allow a single lawmaker to trigger a vote of no confidence to impeach the president came back to haunt him nine months later, after counting on votes from House Democrats to temporarily avert a government shutdown. Eight Republicans voted with all Democrats to impeach McCarthy, making it the first time in U.S. history that a Speaker of the House of Representatives has been ousted by such a motion.
President Mike Johnson of Louisiana successful McCarthy after three weeks of chaos caused by the GOP’s inability to rally around a candidate. Although Johnson faced similar problems to McCarthy and had to rely on Democratic votes to pass legislation, he survived in the role longer than his predecessor. Democrats intervened to save Johnson following an attempted eviction in May.
Updated 4 months ago
Parliamentary control was last reversed during the 1952 presidential election cycle.
The last time control of the House was flipped in a presidential election year was 1952. Republicans won the House and Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected to his first term in the House White.
Updated 4 months ago
Battle for control of the House
Of the 435 House seats up for grabs, about 40 are considered competitive, according to the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analysis site that considers 22 of those elections to be toss-ups. Of these 22 seats, 10 are occupied by Democrats and 12 by Republicans. Of the other 21 competitive seats, 13 lean Democratic and eight lean Republican.
The Republicans currently have 220 seats. Democrats have 212. There are three vacancies due to the deaths of Rep. Sheila Jackson, a Texas Democrat, and Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, and the early retirement of Rep. Mike Gallagher , a Republican from Wisconsin.
For Democrats to take control of the House, they would need to retain their 212 seats and the two vacancies due to deaths, as well as win four.
However, it is unlikely to be that simple. Redrawn congressional maps in North Carolina mean three Democratic-held seats are poised to be easily won by Republicans.
But the shift toward Republicans is partly muted by redrawing congressional districts in Louisiana and Alabama, which are likely to be won by Democrats under the new lines.
—Caitlin Yilek, Hunter Woodall and Alexandria Johnson
