The party won the 218 seats needed in the midterm elections to secure a majority in the lower chamber of Congress, with a win in California’s 27th congressional district bringing them across the line.
The final balance of the House remains unclear as votes continue to be counted in several cliffhanger races, but the Republican Party is now expected to win between 218 and 223 seats in the 435-seat chamber.
After two years of Democratic control of both the House and Senate, the power dynamic in Washington will shift.
The slim majority will empower Republicans to rein in the Democrat Biden’s agenda by impeding his ability to enact legislation, and by launching potentially politically damaging investigations into his administration and family, though it falls far short of the ‘red wave’ the party had hoped for in the elections.
Democrats retained control of the Upper House, the Senate, with former President Donald Trump, who launched his 2024 presidential campaign on Tuesday, accused by Republicans of poor performance.
Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the Republicans in the House, celebrated, however, when he said the House was “officially flipped.”
He was picked by mainstream Republicans on Tuesday to be their nominee to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as the next Speaker of the House.
The first woman to hold the position, Ms. Pelosi, 82, has not said whether she intends to stay on as minority leader amid speculation in Washington about her future.
Ms. Pelosi vowed her party would “exert strong influence over a small Republican majority.”