GOP Projected to Hold 220-215 House Majority
Against all odds, Donald Trump appears to have the trifecta in the 2024 election.
The GOP is now projected to hold the House, it has already won the Senate, and obviously Trump won the White House.
Now the concern is that Trump could put the majority at risk in both chambers by raiding Congress for his cabinet.
Majority at Risk
The fact the GOP kept the House is staggering to me. The level of dysfunction over the last two years had me convinced there was no way the GOP could hold the House, but it did.
With only a two-vote cushion, the hope among leadership was that Trump would leave the House alone in terms of filling his cabinet and key positions, but Trump has already pulled several members of Congress to fill his administration.
Of note is the appointment of Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) as UN Ambassador. He has also tapped Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) as his National Security Adviser.
Stefanik dominated her race, winning more than 62% of the vote, and Waltz won his race with 66.5% of the race, so these seats should be safe in a special election, but you just never know.
To that point, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is hoping the pillaging is done.
He stated, "That's an agenda we've been working on with President Trump for months now. We didn't wait until the day after the election to start planning this, and this shows the relentless focus of Donald Trump.
"I know he's already pulled a few really talented people out of the House – hopefully no more for a little while until special elections come up, but it shows you the talent that we have and the ability we have."
Trump really has to be careful here, and I know he wants to reward his loyalists, but he also has to realize that without complete control of Congress, he will be sitting on his hands for the entire administration.
Speaker Johnson (R-LA) has also expressed his concerns on this front, but he too believes that Trump will keep the pillaging of Congress to a minimum to ensure they hold the power.
