(Deroy Murdock, Headline USA) Thanksgiving is upon us and, three weeks after Election Day, America STILL does not know the makeup of the incoming U.S. House.
Pathetic!
As of Tuesday at 11:22 p.m., the Associated Press reports, Republicans have won 219 seats to the Democrats’ 213.
At this writing, three seats remain uncalled:
- Democrat Adam Gray inched past Republican Congressman John Duarte by 182 votes in California’s 13th District, with 99% of ballots tallied. (For God’s sake, after 22 days, where the hell are those other votes?) Duarte led Gray by 207 votes as late as Tuesday afternoon, with 98% of ballots counted. Another 1% of votes turned up, and—Bang! Zoom!—the Democrat suddenly is on top. Here we go again.
- In CA-45, Democrat Derek Tran is 613 votes ahead of GOP Congresswoman Michelle Steel.
- Iowa’s First District finds Congresswoman Mariannette Miller–Meeks edging Democrat Christina Bohannan by 800 votes. (Miller–Meeks declared victory late Wednesday following the conclusiong of an official recount. –ed.)
If these margins hold, the new House should include 215 Democrats, 220 Republicans, and a three-seat GOP majority.
But wait!
Florida Republican Matt Gaetz just ditched his seat after abandoning his nomination for U.S. attorney general.
And fellow Florida Republican Mike Waltz will depart on Jan. 20 to become President Donald J. Trump’s national security adviser.
These exits have triggered Jan. 28 primaries and April 1 general elections. They also shrink the expected Republican conference to 218 seats.
It gets worse:
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is Trump’s choice for United Nations ambassador. Assuming a quick Senate confirmation, she would leave the House and commence diplomacy on Jan. 21.
Remaining GOP seats: 217.
Kathy “The Hack” Hochul—New York’s hapless, colorless Democrat governor—is in no rush to comfort Republicans. She likely will maximize GOP anxiety by scheduling the latest-possible special election, 90 days hence: Tuesday, April 22.
If everything goes smoothly, the Republican House must govern between Inauguration Day and April Fools’ Day with 217 seats and three vacancies. If all 215 Democrats stay united, Republicans must vote unanimously, lest they drop beneath the (216 + 1 =) 217 votes needed to pass anything.
This will turn every decision—from adopting budgets to approving each day’s Congressional Record—into a Hitchcockian thriller. If just one Republican oversleeps, gets sick, or endures flight delays, major legislation could crash and burn.
Any single Republican could hijack the entire House until securing whatever ransom bought his cooperation.
Republicans also could squander “safe” special elections to fill these vacancies. For a cautionary tale, recall how then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., left in 2017 to become Trump’s first attorney general. His seat, in a stalwart-Republican state, was a lock. And then hints and allegations emerged about GOP nominee Roy Moore’s unusual habit of courting females as young as 14.
“I don’t remember ever dating any girl without the permission of her mother,” Moore assured Fox News host Sean Hannity. Suitably appalled voters sent liberal Democrat Doug Jones to the Senate—from Alabama!
Consider another hazard:
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s surprisingly weak leadership has earned the scorn of GOP representatives Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia. Add one vote to their Nays and Gaetz’s absence, and the Louisiana Republican could lack the votes to re-gain the speakership.
If so, the House would drift like a ghost ship for days or even weeks until a new captain arises. Meanwhile, Trump’s America First legislative agenda would bob aimlessly among the waves.
It would help if Gaetz reconsidered and took his seat. He should chair a Select Committee on Federal Injustice to detail DOJ’s long train of abuses and usurpations.
Thus, Gaetz could mitigate, by one seat, this entire fine mess left by Congressman Richard Hudson, R-N.C., and the National Republican Congressional Committee. They should have secured a victory commensurate with Trump’s sweeping triumph— not to mention Senate Republicans’ 100% re-election of incumbents and conquest of four Democrat seats.
Hudson and the NRCC failed Trump and Republicans nationwide by botching an excellent opportunity to win a robust working House majority.
Trump and Senate Republicans romped. Hudson and the NRCC barely survived. Forthcoming details of their incompetence and pettiness will expose them as this Thanksgiving’s biggest turkeys.
Deroy Murdock is a Manhattan-based Fox News Contributor.
