After a close race that suggested the House of Representatives majority could go either way, the Associated Press officially called the House of Representatives race for the Republicans, with a majority of 218-212 seats as of Thursday, November 14th. With the House of Representatives majority going to the Republican party, the Republicans now have a government trifecta, holding the executive branch with President-elect Donald J. Trump as well as both houses of the legislative branch (the Senate, and now the House of Representatives) clearing the way for, at least in the foreseeable future, a period in which conservatives hold most of the nation’s political power.
While whether or not this will be good or bad for the country is uncertain, students at Hingham High School at least, may not have been surprised by this development. Nate Bradl, a sophomore at HHS, said, “While most commentators said this election would be close, I think after the election was practically called the night of election day with Trump winning the office of the Presidency, and the Senate majority surprisingly going Republican, I felt like the House would probably go Republican too. “
Nate continued, now, a week later, I’m not really surprised it went that way. To the democrats credit though, they did put up a fight for the House of Representatives, because before the election the Republicans had the majority, but taking an extra week to decide the House of Representatives suggests that at least in some districts the democrats had the chance to, or got close to, turning over some seats. Despite that not happening, I think that does go to show, that while most people are framing this election as a clean sweep by Republicans, there is still a large swath of the country that supported the democrats, and came somewhat close to flipping the only part of the trifecta that was republican before the election to the democratic party.”
Regardless of the predictability of the 2024 House of Representatives race, the consensus as to why the House of Representatives took so much longer to call this year than the Senate and Presidential races that were practically called the night of Election Day seems to be that the House has the highest number of seats to fill and the thorough counting methods of certain states.
Historically, such as in 2022, the House of Representatives votes take longer to count than the Senate or Presidential races do, which many attribute simply to the volume of simultaneous active races for seats as the congress is replenished every two years. Specifically, states such as California have become infamous for their extended time taken to count the vote, which Californian politicians believe is an important part of upholding democracy, even as it tries others’ patience.
Ultimately, an important factor to keep in mind about government elections is that at the end of the day, they are the beginning and not the end of politics. From whatever the results are at the end of the vote counting, the American public must reckon with it for the next four years. And this year, the elections have swung particularly in the direction of one side.
Sanya Khadivi, a senior at HHS expressed her worries of a political trifecta, saying “ I think it is kind of frightening that the entire house is republican because for the most part, anything Trump says can go. “
Sanya added, “While for the republicans of this nation it may be more convenient and ideal to have their party dominating, it kind of puts the opposing parties in a difficult position where they are almost helpless and voicing their opinions may not do much. The fate of the US truly lies in Trump’s hands so depending on how he plays his cards, our futures (maybe even for those beyond North America) may forever be greatly altered.”
