After a week of uncertainty, NBC News is projecting that Republicans will gain a narrow majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The projection follows a disappointing midterms for the GOP. Over the weekend, U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., won reelection over former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt. Masto's victory means Democrats keep control of the Senate.
Both Republicans and Democrats maintain that Georgia's looming runoff election is still important.
Analyzing the undecided House races, NBC Senior Washington Correspondent Hallie Jackson told host Savannah Guthrie this morning that the network's decision desk projects Republicans will hold a razor-thin majority in the next Congress with 219 seats over Democrats with 216.
Jackson and Guthrie discussed how that could make life more difficult for expected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.
As Mediaite reports:
“It's just gonna be messier, right? Because it means with less wiggle room, basically, a smaller group of members could have more power,” Jackson said. She explained that this would be one of Kevin McCarthy's biggest challenges if he becomes Speaker of the House, which Jackson described as “still an open question.”
Jackson's assessment corroborates the reporting of ABC News's Jon Karl about McCarthy's rough road ahead as he attempts to become speaker. With the majority expected to be as tight as it is, Jackson predicted various congressional factions would form and compete against each other to influence voting on governance issues.
Karl reported on McCarthy's perilous road to the speakership Sunday. A small but significant group of pro-Trump representatives within the conservative House Freedom Caucus are withholding their support.
Per Mediaite:
“There are, by my count, at least eight to ten Republicans that are adamant that they will not support Kevin McCarthy for speaker,” Karl said. “That said, there's no alternative right now. But remember, you need 218 votes to be elected Speaker of the House, and he doesn't have that. This is going to be a long brutal process when they come together and make that vote.”
…
“They can hold his speakership hostage at any time,” Karl summed up.
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Need New House speaker & Not McCarthy
Jordan?
Other
Trump?
I’ll believe it when I see it……
The most cataclysmic error was to grant members of Congress exorbitant lifetime benefits, effectively putting them all on the gravy train. Now as a result we have a permanent cadre of Deep State UNIPARTY operatives who are concerned more about getting reelected than they are about getting the job done. I fear that the likes of Mr. McCarthy and certainly old reach-across-the-aisle Mitch the Switch are card-carrying members of this Deep State, who are more committed to ‘getting along’ than they are about pursuing a Republican agenda. Folks, it’s no longer about compromise! It’s about squelching the Marxist-Leninist Democrats, who are becoming more and more Communist with each passing day.