Republicans eye sweep through all three houses

Republicans voice confidence in retaining the US House of Representatives to deliver Donald Trump a sweeping mandate.

Mitch McConnell at the US Capitol on Wednesday. Picture: AFP

Republicans closed in on complete control of the US government on Wednesday as they voiced confidence in retaining the US House of Representatives to deliver Donald Trump a sweeping mandate for radical policy changes at home and abroad.

Having already captured the White House and Senate on a blockbuster night in Tuesday’s election, the party will likely complete the trifecta by holding its tiny majority in the lower chamber of Congress, according to the Cook Political Report.

More than 40 House races remain uncalled and it could take a week or more to determine overall control because of tight races in several states that take longer to count their ballots, such as California and New York.

Democrats are nevertheless reeling after Tuesday’s wipe-out, and coming to terms with a repudiation that could leave them in the wilderness for years if they are unable to overturn the Republican four-seat advantage in the House.

“This historic election has proven that a majority of Americans are eager for secure borders, lower costs, peace through strength, and a return to common sense,” Republican House speaker Mike Johnson said.

“As more results come in it is clear that, as we have predicted all along, Republicans are poised to have unified government in the White House, Senate and House.”

Democrats managed to defeat three seats in New York but were unable to capitalise on Republicans’ other vulnerable districts and their gains were cancelled out by flips to their opponents.

Republicans have leads in a handful of very tight California races while Democrats still have to defend seats elsewhere.

In the 100-member Senate, Republicans started Tuesday with a 49-seat minority but look poised to end the election with at least 52 seats and as many as 55. The comfortable majority gives Trump a much easier time confirming his cabinet secretaries.

“I think it was a referendum on the current administration, in part,” outgoing Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said.

“People were just not happy with this administration and the Democratic nominee, obviously, was a part of it.”

In the Senate, the GOP flipped Democrat seats in West Virginia, Montana and Ohio. Democrats successfully defended Wisconsin and Michigan, while races were too close to call in three battleground states that President Joe Biden won in 2020 by less than three percentage points: Arizona, Nevada and Pennsylvania.

In the House, Democrats’ path to take back control narrowed as Republicans outperformed expectations on the strength of Trump’s ability to make inroads among working-class Black and Latino voters, especially men, supplementing his support among white working-class voters.

Democrats’ hopes for a slew of pick-ups in California didn’t materialise, greatly tempering their hopes of flipping the House, which Republicans currently control 220-212 with three vacancies.

Republicans had been favoured to win the Senate, although they had declined to express confidence about large gains, and the narrowly divided GOP-led House had been seen as a toss-up. But by Wednesday morning, Republicans had won more seats than needed for Senate control.

Trump aides confirmed the president-elect would immediately reinstate his first-term immigration crackdown in January with the “largest mass deportation operation” in history of undocumented immigrants.

Trump aide Robert F Kennedy Jr, a longstanding conspiracy theorist who is expecting a health portfolio in the new administration, said he would work to undo water fluoridation but dismissed fears that he would ban vaccines.

AFP