Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves as he walks with former first lady Melania Trump at an election night party at the Palm Beach Convention Center, Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Florida (AP Photo/Evan) Vucci)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. House majority hung in the balance Wednesday, teetering between Republican control that would usher in a new era of unified GOP rule in Washington or a swing to the Democrats as the last line of resistance against a white Trump for a second term . Home agenda.

A few individual seats, or even one, will determine the outcome. Final counts will take some time, likely pushing the decision into next week – or beyond.

After Republicans won a majority in the US Senate, picking up seats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted his chamber would be next in line.

“Republicans are ready to have a unified government in the White House, Senate and House,” Johnson said Wednesday.

President-elect Donald Trump, who won the Electoral College and the popular vote against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, has consolidated his growing power around his MAGA movement, supporting newcomers to Washington and setting the stage for his own return to the White House.

Johnson said congressional Republicans are preparing a “ambitious” The 100-day agenda with Trump, which he said it was “I think big” about his legacy.

Tax cuts, securing the southern border and taking a “blowtorch” to federal regulations are at the top of the agenda if the GOP sweeps the White House and Congress. Trump himself has promised mass deportations and punishment against his perceived enemies. And Republicans want to push federal agencies in Washington and revamp the government workforce with outside think tanks, Johnson said, to bring the federal government together. “on the heels”.

But Johnson, after only a year on the job, had trouble governing the House, and the new Congress would be no different. Hardliners led by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Rep. Matt Gaetz and others often clashed and overturned their own GOP leadership in what was one of the most chaotic sessions in modern times.

If Johnson’s slim four-seat majority shrinks further, the government could grind to a halt.

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries told the House “there’s a lot left in the game.”

With Democrats defeating two House Republicans in Jeffries’ home state of New York, he said the path to a majority now lies through takeover opportunities in Arizona, Oregon, Iowa and California, which are still too early to call. he called them.

“We must count every vote” Jeffries said.

The House contests remained a tit-for-tat battle to the end, with no dominant path to the majority for either party. Rarely, if ever, have the two houses of Congress flipped in opposite directions.

Each side gains and loses some seats, including through the redistricting process, which is the routine redrawing of House seat lines. North Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama seat reset process.

Much of the outcome hinges on the West, particularly in California, where a handful of House seats are hotly contested and mail-in ballots arriving a week after the election will still be counted. Hard fought races all around “blue dot” in Omaha, Nebraska and in remote Alaska are among those being watched.

Trump, speaking early Wednesday at his election night party in Florida, said the results gave a “unprecedented and powerful mandate” for republicans.

He called the Senate “incredible,” and praised Johnson, saying he was “I’m doing a great job.”

From the US Capitol, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, a harsh critic of Trump, called it a “a damn fine day.”

Senate Republicans marched across the map with Trump, flipping three Democratic seats and facing Democratic challengers who failed to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz in Texas and Sen. Rick Scott in Florida.

In West Virginia, Jim Justice, the state’s wealthy governor, flipped the seat held by retiring Sen. Joe Manchin. Republicans unseated Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio with GOP luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur Bernie Moreno. And Republican Tim Sheehy defeated Democratic Sen. Jon Tester in Montana.

Democrats avoided a total wipeout by saving seats in the “blue wall” states. Rep. Elissa Slotkin won an open Senate seat in Michigan and Sen. Tammy Baldwin was re-elected in Wisconsin. The Pennsylvania race between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger Dave McCormick was still undecided.

In other developments, Democrats made history by sending two black women, Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, to the Senate. Only you black women, including Harris, have served in the Senate, but never two at the same time.

In all, Senate Republicans have the potential to achieve their strongest majority in years — a testament to McConnell, who has made a career out of carving out a path to power, this time aligned with Trump, whom he appointed in private. “lowly” in the run-up to the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.

During a news conference Wednesday, McConnell declined to answer questions about his past harsh criticism of Trump and said he saw the election results as a referendum on the Biden administration.

He told reporters on Capitol Hill that a Republican-controlled Senate would do that “control the railings” and prevent changes in Senate rules that would end the filibuster.

“People just weren’t happy with this administration, and the Democratic nominee was a part of it,” McConnell said.

What is still unclear is who will lead the new Republican Senate as McConnell prepares to step down from office.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, the No. 1 Republican. 2, and Texas Sen. John Cornyn, who previously held the position, are the favorites to replace McConnell in a secret ballot scheduled for when senators arrive in Washington next week.

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Associated Press writers Stephen Groves, Kevin Freking and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.