The American legislative elections which took place in parallel with the presidential election have strengthened the American Republican Party: with a victory in the House of Representatives announced by the American media, Donald Trump has comfortable control of the levers of power for his return to Washington. The 78-year-old billionaire and the conservative camp thus achieve a trifecta with the presidency and both houses of Congress.
According to the projections of CNN And NBC Newsthe Republicans obtained at least 218 seats out of the 435 at stake and maintain their majority in the House of Representatives. It was the victory of Juan Ciscomani, in Arizona, which allowed the Party to obtain its 218th seat in the House. There remain nine seats to be filled: not enough for the Democrats (208 currently elected) to reverse the trend.
“It was a decisive victory across the nation. People want to see us implement and apply our America First agenda,” greeted Republican Representative Mike Johnson, who should, barring any major surprises, continue to chair the Bedroom.
Republican John Thune at the head of the Senate
On the Senate side, the Republicans also won against the Democrats, who had a slim majority since 2021, during the elections last week (for the moment 52 seats against 47 for the Democrats and related parties, with one seat remaining to be allocated) . They elected John Thune, from a rather traditional Republican line, as leader on Wednesday. The South Dakota elected official said he was “extremely honored” by his victory, assuring that the Republican team was “united behind President Trump’s program.” The election of John Thune, elected to the US Senate since 2005, marks the end of the era of Republican tenor Mitch McConnell, who had stormy relations with Donald Trump.
Controlling Congress will make the task of the 45th and future 47th president easier, who has promised to implement radical measures, including mass expulsions of migrants, tax cuts and deregulation. But Donald Trump has also demonstrated his desire to bypass the laborious confirmation processes by senators of the people he plans to appoint to key positions.
To do this, he plans to use a clause that allows the president to make temporary appointments when the Senate is not in session. The Republican is also on track to win the popular vote against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris with 50.2% of the vote according to NBC News, based on a count still underway. All the seven key states that were likely to swing during the election also fell into his hands.