Republicans retain majority in House of Representatives

Photo: Mandel Ngan Agence France-Presse Donald Trump and the conservative camp have achieved a winning trifecta with the presidency and both houses of Congress, which reinforces the resounding political comeback of the former Republican president.

Alex Fontaine

Published yesterday at 3:01 PM Updated yesterday at 3:13 PM

• United States

The Republican Party has retained its majority in the House of Representatives, several American media outlets reported on Wednesday. With Donald Trump in the White House and in control of both houses of Congress, Republicans will have ample room to advance their priorities in Washington, experts say.

According to projections by the American networks CNN and MSNBC, the Republicans reached the milestone of 218 seats on Wednesday afternoon, which gives them control of the House of Representatives. Last week, they had already taken control of the Senate, obtaining at least 52 elected members. This follows the election of Donald Trump as president with 312 electoral votes and 50.2% of the popular vote, according to the latest estimates, while the counting of the last ballots continues.

“For a party that takes back the White House, it is not unusual to find itself in control of the presidency and both houses of Congress,” explains Julien Toureille, researcher in residence at the Raoul-Dandurand Chair’s Observatory on the United States. The Republican Party will thus have “much more freedom […] to try to implement its political program.” The future 47th president of the United States has notably promised mass expulsions of migrants, tax cuts and the deregulation of various sectors of activity.

In addition to this triple majority, there is a Supreme Court with a strong conservative majority. “A fairly unusual concentration of power in the hands of a single party,” says Pierre Martin, professor of political science at the University of Montreal and researcher at the Centre for International Studies and Research.

The Republican majority in the Senate and the House of Representatives will nevertheless be quite slim, with just a few seats, says Mr. Martin, who points out that the party had difficulty maintaining cohesion in its ranks during its first term. Discipline will therefore represent a challenge for the Republicans if they wish to advance their program.

With the executive and legislative branches in Republican hands, in addition to a judiciary camped on the right, will there remain any checks and balances in Washington? ? “On a strictly institutional level, no,” says Pierre Martin.

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Public opinion can represent a sort of check and balance, but the electorate will have to wait until 2026 to make itself heard, the next elections to the House of Representatives, he explains. All the seats will be at stake, and these elections to the House, when they come halfway through presidential terms, can be used by voters to make known their discontent—or their support—for a president's actions.

The federal bureaucracy can also come and mix things up, according to Julien Toureille. “Even if you appoint people who are loyal to you, devoted and who have ideas very close to yours,” this does not guarantee the rapid adoption of all the measures that will be put forward by the presidency.

To measure the effectiveness of the checks and balances, we will have to see to what extent Congress wants to maintain its independence, adds Mr. Toureille. He gives the example of former House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy, who was impeached after disagreements with members of his own party.

Discover the distribution of elected representatives in Congress with our election results dashboard.

Serial nominations

Donald Trump also wants to do without Senate approval of appointments to his government, a process that is in principle mandatory, but which he could circumvent by making appointments when the Senate is not in session.

“If [senators] decide to abdicate their responsibility in this matter, we would have an illustration of the weakening of checks and balances since they would not play their constitutional role,” according to Mr. Toureille.

Pierre Martin agrees. “If the Senate accepts, it would be the abdication by the Republican branch of the Senate of a power that normally falls to it,” says the researcher. If so, it would be “a capitulation of the legislative branch to the executive branch. This would be an extremely important indicator of centralization.”

With the nominations that have been multiplying in recent days, we are beginning to get an idea of ​​what the Trump administration will look like. It includes “very controversial” figures, according to Pierre Martin.

On Wednesday, John Thune was elected leader of the Republican majority in the American Senate. The politician from South Dakota, from a rather traditional Republican branch, assured that the Republican team was “united behind President Trump’s program.”

The nomination blitz led by the Trump team has allowed other loyalists to access choice positions. Florida Senator Marco Rubio has been nominated for Secretary of State. Another Floridian, Matt Gaetz, will be Attorney General.

Yesterday, we learned that Elon Musk, the richest man in the world and major contributor to the Trump campaign, would head the new Department of “Government Efficiency.” Pete Hegseth, a former military man who is now a presenter on the conservative Fox News channel, has been appointed Secretary of Defense.

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Trump visits the White House

Joe Biden received Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday. The latter will take office on January 20 and has declared that the transition will be “the smoothest possible.”

“We will do everything possible to make sure that you have everything that you need,” Joe Biden said. Let us recall that, in recent years, he has often described Donald Trump as a danger to American democracy.

“Politics is tough, and often it’s not a very nice world. But it’s a nice world today, and I’m grateful,” Trump said.

Little of the topics of discussion between the two men have leaked. White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre described the meeting as “very cordial” and “very courteous” and “incredibly substantive.”

With Agence France-Presse