Democrats head toward House control, but struggle to gain seats
- Republican expectations for capturing the House from Democrats all but non-existent
- Republican supporter of the QAnon conspiracy theory movement wins seat
Democrats drove Wednesday toward extending their control of the House for two more years, but their expectations of expanding their majority seemed to be waning as they failed to defeat any Republican incumbents in initial returns.
Freshmen Democrats Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Donna Shalala became Election Day’s first incumbent casualties, falling in adjacent South Florida districts in a state where President Donald Trump seemed to consolidate his support among Cuban voters.
Democrats as expected picked up a pair of North Carolina seats vacated by Republican incumbents after a court-ordered remapping made the districts more Democratic. But as Tuesday turned into Wednesday on the East Coast, the day’s results were developing into a disappointing election for the party.
Instead, the parties’ swapped a handful of seats apiece, underscoring returns that early on suggested a status-quo House election, with Democrats holding onto their majority with modest gains at best.
There were no early victories by Democrats in long-shot races. Republicans retained seats that Democrats had hoped to capture, for example, in central North Carolina and around Little Rock, Arkansas.
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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says Democrats will keep House majority in US elections
And with Republican expectations for capturing the House all but non-existent, they were likely to view an Election Day with little change in Democrats’ strength as almost acceptable. Even so, they are sure to face internal questions about why they remain trapped in the chamber’s minority. A major question would be how to regain suburban voters who have fled the Republican Party in droves, largely over their distaste for Trump.