November 8, 2024
After this election president elect Trump says the voters of this country gave him a “mandate” to carry out his agenda over the next four years. So can he do it?
Well as of today – it’s still unclear if he’s going to be able to do it easily and freely. Why? Because we don’t yet know which party will control the US House of Representatives.
To the math.
In the house if all seats are filled — you need to have 218 votes to have the majority. Now this number is fluid and votes are still being counted as we speak — but right now as of Friday November 8th according to the Associated Press Republicans have 211 seats and Democrats have 199. There are still about two dozen races left to be called in red and blue states. Republicans are leading in most of those races and the republicans are convinced they’re going to keep control of the House. But the Democrats believe they still have a path to take control. But no matter which party wins the majority in the house – it’s likely going to be an extremely slim majority. And that could give us the same gridlock scenario we’ve been dealing with for the last two years. But for argument’s sake let’s just pretend that the gridlock is not going to happen.
The fact is – to get any of Trump’s agenda passed he needs not only the House – but he also needs the Senate. In case you missed it — republicans won that too.
All the races aren’t called yet – but already Republicans have 53 seats and Democrats have 45 seats. Republicans were able to flip four seats West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Montana. Arizona and Nevada are still not called. While 53 is a strong number that does give Republicans the majority – it’s not 60. 60 is the number of votes needed in the Senate to get past the filibuster. For now – that means –Republicans can’t technically jam through every single one of their agenda items without Democrat support. But – there has been some talk – especially if Republicans also control the House – that Republicans will do away with the filibuster. The current republican senate leader Mitch McConnell is vehemently against that – but he is stepping down and the Republicans emerging to replace him don’t have as strong of views about that.
