The 2024 election cycle came to an abrupt end on November 6 with the reelection of Donald Trump and the Republican Party re-taking control of the Senate. On November 13, Republicans officially clinched the 218 seats needed to hold their majority in the US House of Representatives, giving the party unified control of the government.
Trump claimed the results represented an “unprecedented and powerful mandate” for the party, according to the Associated Press. The sweeping win means Trump may be able to enact much of his agenda with few checks and balances to rein him in. The president-elect has already announced a number of controversial and hard-line anti-immigrant picks for his Cabinet and top government posts.
Below, we break down the big picture of the results and what it means.
The Senate:
Republicans won back control of the Senate, beating Democrats in predictably red states like Ohio, West Virginia, and Montana, while holding on to their seats in states like Texas and Florida, according to NBC News.
The GOP went into the 2024 election cycle with a very favorable map, and that worked to the party’s advantage. According to the Washington Post, Democrats were fighting to hold onto 23 seats, mainly “in red and purple states,” while Republicans only needed to defend 11 seats, which were all in red states.
Republican Senate control means Trump will more easily be able to push through his own nominees for Cabinet positions and judges, including any potential openings on the Supreme Court. (Trump successfully installed three conservative Supreme Court justices during his administration.) The Senate will also be able to help Trump advance his agenda, which includes reviving what he calls his administration’s “unlock[ing of] our country’s God-given abundance of oil, natural gas, and clean coal,” cracking down on immigration, protecting “parents’ rights” and delivering “record” funding to police departments.
Among the highest-profile races, longtime Senator Ted Cruz defeated former civil rights attorney and NFL linebacker-turned-congressman Colin Allred in Texas; Trump-endorsed businessman Bernie Moreno beat incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio; and businessman and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy won against incumbent Senator John Tester in Montana. (Moreno and Sheehy both earned headlines during this cycle for their dismissive comments about abortion rights.) In Arizona, Rep. Ruben Gallego beat far-right former news anchor and election denier Kari Lake.
The Senate will see two Black women serving together in the upper chamber of Congress for the first time with the elections of Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, both Democrats.
The House:
In the final stretch before Election Day, political analysts seemed to think control of the House of Representatives was too close to call. As of November 13, Republicans won control of the House, earning the 218 seats needed to hold their majority in the chamber, compared to 208 for Democrats, according to NBC News. Nine races have yet to be called.
The Republicans’ win in the House means Trump will have a unified Congress to carry out his policy wishes, such as deporting undocumented immigrants, expanding oil drilling on federal lands, and renewing his tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy.
“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said at a news conference in front of the Capitol on Tuesday, according to the New York Times. “It was a decisive win across the nation.”
Republicans came into the 2024 cycle with a 220-212 majority in the House, with three vacancies, per Ballotpedia. All 435 House seats are up for election every two years.
Key governor’s races:
Governors have enormous control over what day-to-day life in looks like in their state on issues from gun control to abortion access to what’s taught in schools. This year, 11 of the 50 states held gubernatorial elections, according to Ballotpedia: Delaware, Indiana, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Utah, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. Republicans won eight of those contests, per NBC.
In the closely-watched New Hampshire race, former Manchester mayor Joyce Craig lost to former US senator Kelly Ayotte. Ayotte has voted to defund Planned Parenthood and for a national 20-week abortion ban, while Craig pledged to protect reproductive rights.
The wildest race this cycle was the matchup between “conspiracy-loving, Hitler-quoting, Beyoncé-hating, anti-abortion, and anti-LGBTQ+” North Carolina lieutenant governor Mark Robinson and state attorney general Josh Stein. Robinson lost in a landslide. Democrats also won their races in Washington State and Delaware, according to NBC.
Editor’s note: This post will be updated after results are announced and finalized. It was originally published on November 5.
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