After Democrats Flip Final House Seat Of The 2024 Elections, An Even Bigger Headache For House Speaker Mike Johnson

Democrats were able to flip a final seat in California, leaving the Republicans with a narrow majority in the House.

This leaves GOP leaders with less margin for error trying to push President-elect Donald Trump‘s agenda.

In California’s 13th District in the Central Valley, Democrat Adam Gray defeated Republican Rep. John Duarte, leaving Republicans with 220 House seats and Democrats with 215.

The close margin in the House allows just two votes for the GOP to lose in the next Congress, leaving little room for defections within the Republican party.

Duarte called Gray to concede on Tuesday, and with his victory, Democrats flipped nine Republican-held seats, and Republicans flipped eight Democratic-held seats.

In the 13th District, Democrats also flipped a district with Derek Tran.

Democratic campaigns and groups outspent Republicans in the fall with $662 million on ads compared to Republicans’ $485 million.

This year, the House race was close, with about 10% of the chamber’s votes decided by less than five percentage points.

Though Democrats do not control the House, they performed better overall than Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate.

An analysis by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee shared that Democratic candidates in competitive districts overperformed Harris in counties with lower levels of education and where the majority of registered voters are people of color.

By controlling the majority of power in Washington, Republicans will get the opportunity to pass significant policies in a reconciliation package, which is fast-track legislation without Democratic votes. But House Speaker Mike Johnson will face a heavy lift with an even slimmer majority than he had in the last Congress.

Since Republicans hold such a close House majority, they are expected to face obstacles to completing their reconciliation package.

Trump and Republicans are looking forward to the reconciliation package, which would renew tax cuts from Trump’s administration in 2017, which will expire next year.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), a Trump ally on the Appropriations and Judiciary committees, is urging colleagues to use reconciliation to pass border security legislation.

Republicans will also lose two sitting House members because Trump has chosen Elise Stefanik and Mike Waltz for his Cabinet.

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Florida) will also not be rejoining Congress despite his re-election after withdrawing his nomination as U.S. Attorney General.

The Florida State Department has already announced a special election schedule to replace Gaetz and Waltz.

New York is waiting for Stefanik to resign so Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul can officially declare a special election.

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