(NEXSTAR) – While the race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris has taken up a significant amount of the spotlight, voting rounds will determine who wields legislative power next year.
At stake in this election was control of Congress in the House and Senate. Every single seat in the House of Representatives was up for grabs in 2024, as were 34 seats in the Senate.
In the current Congress, the Republicans have control of the House of Representatives and the Democrats the Senate – but each with an extremely narrow margin. And that could change when novel members are sworn in next year.
Who will win the House of Representatives?
As races are called across the country, the interactive tracker below shows which party is winning more seats.
On Thursday, Republicans declared more seats in the House of Representatives in their column and were moving closer to a majority in the House. However, a few dozen races still had to be called.
Control of the House of Representatives was expected to come to the point. Fourteen Republican incumbents were believed to be in toss-up races, The Hill reported about a week before Election Day. Eleven Democrats in the House of Representatives found themselves in the same position. There was also a lot of attention a handful of completely empty seats created by redistribution and retirement.
To gain control of the House, Democrats will have to give up four seats to Republicans while retaining all of their seats – a high order, especially in congressional districts where Trump won.
Who won the Senate?
According to several election forecasts, Republicans will win a majority in the Senate and thereby take control of the legislature.
As races are called across the country, the interactive tracker below shows which party is winning more seats:
Analysts said the Senate map was favorable to Republicans this year. Republicans only needed two seats to win a surefire majority, and one of them – West Virginia — was called for Republican Jim Justice shortly after polls closed in the state.
Later Tuesday evening, NewsNation’s Decision Desk headquarters called another key Senate race for Republicans. Incumbent Ted Cruz was set to retain his seat in Texas (against Democratic challenger Colin Allred), and challenger Bernie Moreno defeated Democratic incumbent Sherrod Brown in Ohio. These two defeats officially ended Democrats’ hopes of retaining control of the Senate.
In Montana, Republican Tim Sheehy strengthened the GOP’s newly acquired Senate majority with a three-term victory Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester in a contest of national importance that resulted in record-breaking spending by both sides.
Close races in Arizona and Nevada had not yet been called as of Thursday. Democratic incumbent Tammy Baldwin held on to her seat in Wisconsin in a close race, and Democrat Elissa Slotkin also secured a victory in the open race in Michigan.
Both parties have poured large money into just a handful of Senate races to gain control of the body. Three races alone — Ohio, Pennsylvania and Montana — were expected to have spent more than $1 billion through Nov. 5.
If the two chambers actually flipped party control, which is possible, it would be sporadic.
Records show it would be the first time that both chambers of Congress would be split between opposing political parties if Democrats took the House and Republicans took the Senate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
