Democrats have one last shot at keeping power in Washington. Can they win the House?
Democrats clung to one last hope Wednesday that they could still retain some serious clout in Donald Trump’s Washington as control of the House of Representatives remained uncertain.
It takes 218 seats to win a House majority. It appeared more Democratic-held seats than Republican were in danger of flipping to the other party.
Republicans Tuesday won control of the White House and the Senate in decisive fashion. Democrats needed a net gain of four seats to control the House next year, and at least 27 races remained too close to call.
California is the state most closely watched. Five seats now held by Republicans remain undecided.
Reps. John Duarte of Modesto, Mike Garcia of Santa Clarita, Ken Calvert of Corona and Michele Steel of Seal Beach each had leads of less than 5 percentage points with ballots still being counted. Rep. David Valadao of Hanford’s race also still has not been called.
One Democratic seat remained a tossup. Republican Scott Baugh led for the seat now held by Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, who left the House to run for the Senate. She lost the March primary.
A Democratic-run House would put a powerful check on Republicans. The party running the House controls the committees that write legislation and decide spending and tax priorities.
Unlike the Senate, where the minority party has more power, a simple House majority is usually able to block the other party’s initiatives. Thus if Republicans win the House, Trump would take office and find it much easier to quickly approve of his less controversial proposals.
Every president since Bill Clinton in 1993 has assumed office with control of both the House and Senate, and each got major legislation through Congress in his first year.
It’s expected Trump would move quickly to extend the massive tax cuts his administration pushed through in 2017. Most of those tax breaks are set to expire at the end of the year.
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Senate tossups
Republicans will control the Senate. They picked up Democratic-held seats Tuesday in West Virginia, Montana and Ohio, giving the GOP 52 of the Senate’s 100 seats.
They could pick up more, as Democratic incumbents early Wednesday were struggling in Pennsylvania, Nevada and Wisconsin.
Sens. Jacky Rosen, D-Nevada had a small leads, while Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., was losing in a close race.
Also ahead was Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan, where he was vying for the seat now held by the retiring Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow.
Democrats retained one close seat Wednesday, as AP projected Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin, would win re-election.
House uncertainty
Most of the remaining tossup House rates are in states where the presidential race was close. Among the more closely watched races are those involving Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., and the Virginia seat held by Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat who is leaving Congress to run for governor.
In Ohio, Democrats Marcy Kaptur and Emilia Sykes clung to small leads in a state Trump was winning by 12.
Also up slightly were Democrats Reps. Jared Golden of Maine, Don Davis of North Carolina and Yadira Caraveo of Colorado.
Democrats trailing include Reps. Susan Wild of Pennsylvania and Rep, Mary Peltola of Alaska.
The best chances for Democrats to flip Republican seats were in Arizona, where Rep. David Schweikert had a small lead; Pennsylvania, where Rep. Scott Perry was up slightly; New York, where Rep. Anthony D’Esposito was behind and Nebraska, where the center-right Rep. Don Bacon was struggling.