GOP wins 2 more years of House control, Dem gains minimal
WASHINGTON — Republicans retained their lock on the House for two more years early Wednesday as GOP candidates triumphed in a checkerboard of districts in Florida, Virginia and Colorado that Democrats had hoped Donald Trump’s divisive comments about women and Hispanics would make their own.
Democrats who’d envisioned potentially big gains in suburban and ethnically diverse districts instead were on track for disappointingly modest pickups. Republican contenders were buoyed by Trump’s surprising victory in his White House bid against Democrat Hillary Clinton and his appeal to white working-class voters.
Expectations had been low that Democrats would win the 30 seats they’d needed to capture House control. But both sides had anticipated they’d cut the historic GOP majority by perhaps a dozen seats, which now seemed unlikely. Republicans currently hold a 247-188 majority, including three vacant seats, the most the GOP has commanded since their 270 in 1931.
By Wednesday morning, Republicans had at least 233 seats — guaranteeing control — and just five of their incumbents had lost. The GOP retained seats in Minnesota, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Iowa and Wisconsin that Democrats coveted, and Republicans prepared to build on their six-year run of House control.