Republicans secured the 218 seats needed for a majority in the lower house of Congress a week after the midterm elections, the BBC’s US affiliate CBS News project.
Even though the party’s margin in the House was razor thin, it was enough to put President Joe Biden’s agenda on hold for the next two years.
But Democrats will retain control of the Senate when the new Congress meets in January.
Some seats haven’t been called yet.
Republicans – who are hoping to regain control of both houses – underperformed in last week’s midterm elections.
But they won the seats they needed for their majority in the House of Representatives on Wednesday when California’s 27th district fell to incumbent Mike Garcia.
According to CBS, the GOP is now expected to win between 218 and 223 seats in the 435-seat House of Representatives.
However, with votes still being counted in some races, their majority may be inconclusive for days or even weeks.
Kevin McCarthy, who was selected by ordinary Republicans on Tuesday as the nominee to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as the next Speaker of the House, celebrated that he had “officially flipped” the assembly.
- McCarthy won the Republican nomination for speaker
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“The American people are ready for a new direction and House Republicans are ready to make it happen,” the California congressman tweeted Wednesday night.
To be elected Speaker of the House, the House minority leader from the Republican Party must win the support of a majority of all 435 seats in the House.
But Ms Pelosi signaled she would not quietly give up, promising in a statement late Wednesday that her party would wield “tough leverage over the Republican slim majority.”
The first woman to hold the post, Pelosi, 82, said nothing in a press release about whether she plans to remain as minority leader amid speculation in Washington about her future.
