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There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
The fight for the House majority is still too close to call.
While Donald Trump has won the presidency, it may be days or weeks until he knows if he’ll have powerful allies atop the House, due in part to close races in states that take longer to count ballots like California and Arizona. For months, neither party has held a significant edge, and both sides predicted modest gains if they get control of the House.
Results were still too close to call in a slew of battleground House races early Wednesday morning. The Associated Press projected that two Republican incumbents in New York would lose reelection: Reps. Marc Molinaro and Brandon Williams .
Both of them represent districts won by President Joe Biden in 2020. Democrats had invested heavily to try to wrest back control of the blue-state seats and saw them as a key path back to the House majority. In other battlegrounds, Republican Reps. Don Bacon (Neb.) and Anthony D’Esposito (N.Y.) were locked in close races, as were Democratic Reps. Susan Wild (Pa.) and Matt Cartwright (Pa.).
Other incumbents in competitive races held on. For Republicans, that included Reps. Zach Nunn in Iowa, Tom Kean Jr. in New Jersey, Nick LaLota in New York and Monica De La Cruz in Texas. Democratic incumbents, like Reps. Pat Ryan in New York and Gabe Vasquez in New Mexico, also prevailed.
With the Senate in Republican hands, Trump could get the sought-after trifecta if House Republicans win — paving the way for Republican legislative priorities on tax cuts and more. But if Democrats manage to flip the chamber, a split Congress could mean Trump faces the same partisan fights over spending and the debt ceiling that have plagued lawmakers over the past two years.
Speaker Mike Johnson , in a statement early Wednesday morning, vowed that “House Republicans stand ready and prepared to immediately act on Trump’s America First agenda to improve the lives of every family, regardless of race, religion, color, or creed, and make America great again” if the GOP keeps the majority. Johnson appeared with Trump as he spoke to supporters early Wednesday morning in West Palm Beach, Florida.
With the hopes of expanding their majority, Republicans were far more intentional with their candidate recruitment and which challengers they backed in the primaries than they were in 2022. House Republicans’ campaign arm worked closely with Trump, coordinating to boost candidates the party saw as the most likely to win the general election.
Meanwhile, Democrats, who held a commanding lead on fundraising and hammered on the message of abortion rights, relied in part on a slate of repeat challengers who narrowly lost in 2022. The bet was that they would benefit from existing campaign infrastructure and name ID among voters. It’s to be seen if that strategy pays off, as many of those matchups have yet to be called.
Both sides had hoped that redistricting would provide their side with a significant advantage, but several new maps in a handful of states ultimately didn’t heavily tilt in Democrats’ or Republicans’ favor overall. The creation of new districts in the South to provide more voting power to Black voters was largely offset by an aggressive GOP gerrymander in North Carolina, and a not-so-aggressive Democratic redraw in New York.
Andy Kim celebrates New Jersey Senate race win
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NEW YORK — Attorney Josh Riley clinched a crucial win for House Democrats on Tuesday night, unseating freshman Rep. Marc Molinaro in a nasty upstate New York showdown.
The upset came after Molinaro defeated Riley in 2022 by fewer than 2 points, a Republican triumph that helped them win the House majority. Democrats seeking redemption this cycle identified Molinaro as one of five vulnerable Republicans and targeted him with big spending and intensive voter outreach.
The slugfest of a race played out in a district where border security was a central issue.
Molinaro spent much of his reelection campaign hewing closely to the anti-migrant platform of former President Donald Trump, even though he’s one of the most moderate Republicans in Congress. He railed against Riley for his legal work supporting DACA and fighting Trump’s Muslim ban, alleging that it laid the groundwork for a porous southern border. Molinaro also spread the rumor that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio ate pets and sought to link Riley to the euthanasia of a social media-famous squirrel, P’Nut.
But Molinaro’s embrace of Trump may have proven too much for swing voters in his district.
In the end, Riley prevailed with the consistent promise that he would work across the aisle to secure the border and stand up to members of his party who stood in the way.
He tarred Molinaro as a Trump sycophant who would green-light hard-right policies, including a nationwide ban on abortion. Molinaro and other battleground New York Republicans, however, pushed back on the abortion attack line as lies, with Molinaro even launching a TV ad clarifying his support of reproductive rights. The outgoing House member had said he does not support a federal ban and stressed he was the first Republican to sign on to a Democratic bill expanding access to IVF.
The district — which encompasses a sprawling swath a couple of hours north of New York City and south of Albany — was one of the most coveted in the country. Democrats and Republicans poured precious resources into the toss-up race, both understanding that the path to the House majority runs through New York.
Molinaro embarked on a “Hometown Priorities” tour of the district in the final stretch of the race and hit Riley with everything he had. He tied the Democrat closely to unpopular President Joe Biden and Gov. Kathy Hochul.
“This president used the prosecutorial discretion argument that you made to catch-and-release, and then they come to New York where there’s a sanctuary state because of your allies, Kathy Hochul and others,” Molinaro charged of Riley at their sole debate this cycle , a contentious night that frequently left the Democratic challenger looking at the Republican in disbelief.
Riley, like other swing-district Democrats, tried to stress that Molinaro was part of a historically gridlocked Congress run by Republicans.
“He cares more about having a problem to campaign on than solving the problem,” Riley said of Molinaro at the debate, adding of border security: “The only thing he’s offered to the voters over the last two months on this issue: not solutions, not a plan, not a vision.”
Their race was a vicious one, with Riley attacking Molinaro as a “career politician” and Molinaro calling Riley a “D.C. insider.”
LOS ANGELES — Adam Schiff , who rose to prominence as the Democrats’ leading anti-Trump voice in the House, easily clinched a promotion to the Senate on Tuesday .
But his victory speech in downtown Los Angeles was more somber than exultant as he turned to the national political dynamic, with Republicans poised to take control of the Senate and Donald Trump projected to win key battleground states of Georgia and North Carolina .
“Tonight is going to be a hard, long night. We won’t know the result of every race. We will need to be patient,” he said. “And whatever the result of the presidential race, we know there will be serious challenges facing the state of California and the country, regardless of the outcome, regardless of the way people may have voted.”
Schiff easily defeated his Republican opponent, former baseball star Steve Garvey — a victory that was so anticipated that the Burbank Democrat spent much of the general election campaigning and raising money for out-of-state Senate Democrats in an effort to cozy up to his future colleagues.
In his speech, Schiff acknowledged Garvey, his opponent, and said that he joined the baseball icon in celebrating the Dodgers’ World Series victory.
He did not mention Trump, his bitter adversary, by name, but he implicitly invoked the Republican presidential candidate by vowing to guard the country’s democratic institutions.
Schiff said that, as senator, he is “committed to taking on the big fights to protect our freedoms and protect our democracy.”
“California will continue to be at the forefront of progress, the fulcrum of democracy, the champion of innovation and the protector of our rights and freedoms,” he said.
He also echoed other California Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, who have acknowledged the state’s housing affordability crisis . “We are going to build more affordable housing so that you aren’t forced to choose between your rent and putting food on the table,” he said. “We are going to ensure that our fellow neighbors do not have to sleep on the street.”
Blake Jones contributed to this story.
Republicans have wrested back control of the Senate after four years in the minority, positioning the GOP to play a massive role on nominations and in looming policy battles regardless of whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump emerges victorious in the presidential race.
It’s a massive, if largely expected, win for the GOP, which invested heavily in candidate recruitment this cycle. Armed with a highly favorable map, national Republicans worked competitive primaries in battleground states, hoping to maximize their offensive strength in the general election. It worked.
Republicans flipped West Virginia early in the night and added Ohio to their column around 11:30 p.m. Republican Tim Sheehy has led in most recent polling in Montana though it is too early for an official call there.
They have other possible pick-up opportunities in states like Wisconsin, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania. But Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Rick Scott (R-Fla.) both won reelection, closing off a path for Democrats to offset their losses by flipping a GOP-held seat.
The party will take control just as longtime GOP leader Mitch McConnell steps down from his role atop the conference, and it’s still unclear who will take his place. Elections for Senate GOP leadership are slated to occur next week, with two longtime McConnell allies, Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), and conservative Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) running for what will become majority leader next term. Others could still jump into the election.
There is not yet a call in the presidential race, but if Harris wins, the chamber would become an instant logjam for her administration. Republicans have signaled they’ll even make Cabinet confirmations a fight, meaning any major policy initiatives from the current vice president would be an incredibly tough sell.
But a Republican-led Senate would be a boon to a Trump presidency, with the ability to confirm nominees and control legislation on the floor. The size of the majority will matter, since there are still several Republicans in the Senate that regularly broke with Trump during his presidential term, including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. They’re likely to become outsized voices in this newfound Senate majority, especially if Trump is in the White House.
And due to the 60-vote threshold for most legislation, the GOP will still have to work with Democrats on certain priorities. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is expected to stay on as the top Democrat in the chamber after four years leading the Senate; he had insisted until the end that his party would defy the odds, as it did in 2022 when Democrats gained a Senate seat.
The party knew this cycle was going to be tougher. They had two incumbent Democrats running in red states — Ohio and Montana — and Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.) opted for retirement, effectively handing Republicans that seat. The best pickup opportunities were in red states: Texas and Florida.
Still, the final margin of Senate control is expected to be narrow. And the chamber — barring an all-out implosion of the filibuster — will require bipartisan collaboration to get most legislation through. That includes must-pass legislation that will come up next year, like government funding and raising the debt limit.
With this cycle sealed, Democrats are expected to immediately go on the campaign offensive. The party has been salivating over potential pick-up opportunities in North Carolina and Texas in 2026, and has only a handful of competitive seats to defend, namely Georgia and Michigan.
NEW YORK — Democrat John Mannion flipped a central New York House seat Tuesday, clinching a must-win district for his party to recapture control of the chamber.
A state senator who represents the Syracuse area, Mannion unseated Republican Rep. Brandon Williams , a freshman lawmaker who Democrats had pegged early in the election cycle as a vulnerable incumbent.
Mannion drew considerable support from labor organizations, including teachers unions. He will represent an area that has elected a Republican lawmaker to the House for the last decade.
Williams replaced moderate Republican Rep. John Katko in 2022 and, as a more conservative lawmaker, struggled to gain traction in the swing district. He is an enthusiastic supporter of former President Donald Trump and has been a staunch opponent of abortion.
Democrats gave Mannion a boost earlier this year when the district was redrawn to be slightly more favorable to their party’s nominee.
And Williams’ case didn’t get much help in the race’s final days when House Speaker Mike Johnson said House Republicans would be supportive of repealing the CHIPS and Science Act. Johnson later said he misheard the question. The spending package, meant to spur high-tech development and jobs, has been a linchpin for Micron Technology to build a factory in the district.
Mannion’s success came after his own fumbles. Former staffers anonymously accused him of presiding over a toxic office culture, claims the publicly avuncular legislator denied.
Mannion, an Albany lawmaker first elected in 2020, also had to overcome Republican efforts to link him to Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul, who remains deeply unpopular statewide in New York.
Williams’ campaign released a TV ad featuring John Walsh of “America’s Most Wanted” fame blasting his Democratic rival over public safety — an issue that has resonated for Republican campaigns. The ad yoked Mannion to Hochul, and by extension Democratic Albany.
But Mannion sidestepped the associations with Hochul by focusing on his legislative record in the state Senate and hammering Williams over abortion and IVF access.
He has not been supportive of left-leaning criminal justice measures in Albany and has voted against bills that would limit solitary confinement in state prisons.
Both candidates were supportive of the CHIPS and Science Act, making Johnson’s botched comments over appealing the measure last week all the more damaging to the Republican’s slim chances.
Micron plans to build four computer chip manufacturing facilities in the Syracuse area — a project that was spurred by the federal package and the Hochul administration.
The construction will include $6.1 billion in federal spending and $5.5 billion of incentives from New York state. Officials have been optimistic the spending will be a jobs boon to a region that has been stuck in the economic doldrums for more than a generation.
Mannion touted his support for a state-level provision meant to encourage Micron’s construction of the facilities.
A Williams’ victory was not expected by either party, and privately New York Republicans had all but written off their chances of holding the seat.