A week after the midterm elections, Decision Desk HQ and other mainstream media outlets have finally confirmed that Republicans will retake the House, albeit by a slim margin.

Today, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Ca. was elected as the Speaker of the House as Republicans won key races that brought them across the finish line to take the 218 seats necessary to gain a majority.

The seat that pushed Republicans to 218 came after incumbent Kevin Kiley, R-Ca. held his seat in California’s 3rd Congressional District.

Kiley is currently leading by 10,000 votes with just over 50% of the vote in.

While the red wave did not materialize in many key swing states, states like Florida and New York with strong candidates at the top of the ballot, such as Ron DeSantis and Lee Zeldin, were key to delivering the House majority to Republicans.

Republicans flipped three House seats in Florida and four in New York.

Business Insider Reports

On election night, Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy told GOP supporters that when they woke up the next day, they would “be in the majority and Nancy Pelosi will be in the minority.”

This result took longer than expected — the predicted GOP “red wave” failed to appear on Election Day — but after a week of waiting, the Republican Party won control of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, November 15, 2022.

Several races have yet to be called by Decision Desk HQ, however, it’s predicted that Republicans will only hold a slim majority in the 118th Congress.

McCarthy, who faced a leadership challenge from Rep. Andy Biggs and the House Freedom Caucus, was elected by his peers on Tuesday to continue his role as leader of the GOP. He’s poised to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the House in January, although that’s not guaranteed.

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