Special Report: How Big Is the Democratic House? The Desk-by-Desk Range — and the Line the Veto Still Holds
The Associated Press has Democrats at 254 seats with 19 races uncalled; NBC's Decision Desk estimates at least 259; Hakeem Jeffries says at least 255. Here is the range, what a majority that size can do through Oversight and the purse — and the two-thirds math it cannot beat.
By Clara Hughes
Every desk agrees on the headline: Democrats will control the House in January by a wide margin. They do not yet agree on the exact number — and that number matters less than the line it will not cross. As this was written Saturday, Nov. 7, the Associated Press had called 254 House races for Democrats and 162 for Republicans, with 19 still undecided, according to the New York Post's Friday-evening tally and an Anadolu Agency roundup Saturday. NBC News' Decision Desk estimated Thursday that Democrats will control "at least 259 seats" in the next Congress. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters he expects his party to win "at least 255 seats" after all votes are counted, CBS News reported. Call it a working range of roughly 254 to 260 Democratic seats — from 214 going into the election, CBS noted. A majority takes 218. Keep reading with Altas Premium. Below: why the desks differ, how big this majority is historically, the Republican seats still in play, what Oversight and Judiciary chairs can do on Day One, the power-of-the-purse leverage, and the two-thirds