While Republicans won control of the Senate for the first time in four years, control over the House of Representatives was still up for grabs at press time Wednesday afternoon.
The GOP now has more power in Washington, with a defining role in confirming Trump’s Cabinet, as well as any Supreme Court Justice if there is a vacancy.
But the House votes are taking longer to tabulate, simply due to volume. All 435 seats were vulnerable, with Democrats slowly chipping away at the Republicans' lead Wednesday afternoon to a scant 14-seat difference. To have the majority vote, a party must reach 218 seats. At press time, the split was 203 for the Republicans and 189 for the Democrats.
It may take several days to get the final results of the House races. California stands to gain the most new seats, with five Democratic challengers hoping to replace GOP incumbents.
In Maine, incumbent Democratic Congressman Jared Golden managed to keep his seat, one of two congressional districts in the state. Maine's 2nd Congressional district encompasses the majority of the state north of Augusta and Portland.
Across the country near the other Portland in Oregon, incumbent Democratic Rep. Marie Glusenkamp-Perez is holding on to a 52% - 48% lead over Joe Kent in Washington State's 3rd District. Glusenkamp-Perez won the seat by a similar margin in 2022.
If Republicans hold on to their House majority, Democrats won't have much power to prevent them from starkly changing the norms the country has up until now freely enjoyed.