Republicans earn slim majority

REPUBLICANS won control of the United States House of Representative on Wednesday, returning the party to power in Washington and giving conservatives leverage to blunt President Joe Biden’s agenda and spur a flurry of investigations.

However, a threadbare majority will pose immediate challenges for Republican leaders.

More than a week after election day, Republicans secured the 218th seat needed to flip the House from Democratic control. They won the seat they needed for their majority on Wednesday, when California’s 27th district went to incumbent Mike Garcia.

The full scope of the party’s majority may not be clear for several more days – or weeks – as votes in competitive races are still being counted, but they are on track to cobble together what could be the party’s narrowest majority of the 21st century, rivalling 2001, when Republicans had just a nine-seat majority, 221-212 with two independents.

That is far short of the sweeping victory Republicans predicted going into this year’s mid-term elections, when the party hoped to reset the agenda on Capitol Hill by capitalising on economic challenges and Mr Biden’s lagging popularity. Instead, the Democrats showed surprising resilience, complicating Republican plans.