WASHINGTON — Republicans won enough seats to control the U.S. House of Representatives, completing the party’s rise to power and securing their dominance of the U.S. government alongside President-elect Donald Trump. The Republican victory in Arizona and the slow-counting win in California earlier Wednesday gave the GOP its 218th House victory, a majority. Republicans had previously taken control of the Senate from Democrats.

With formidable but slim majorities, Republican leaders envision a mandate to overturn the federal government and quickly implement Trump’s vision for the country.

The incoming president has vowed to carry out the nation’s largest-ever deportation operation, expand tax cuts, punish his political enemies, seize control of the federal government’s most powerful tools and reshape the U.S. economy. The Republican Party’s electoral victories ensure that Congress is ready for this agenda, and Democrats will be almost powerless to control it.

When Trump was elected president in 2016, Republicans also swept Congress but still faced Republican leaders resistant to their policy ideas and a Supreme Court with a liberal majority. Not this time.

When Trump returns to the White House, he will work with a Republican Party completely transformed by the “Make America Great Again” movement and a Supreme Court dominated by conservative justices, including three of his own appointees.

Trump made his first return to Washington since the election on Wednesday morning, gathering House Republicans at a hotel on Capitol Hill.

“I suspect I won’t run again unless you say, ‘He’s fine, we’ve got to find something else,'” Trump told the room full of laughing lawmakers in response.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who won the nomination to remain speaker of the Republican Conference next year with Trump’s support, has recently talked about putting a “lamp” on the federal government and its programs, seeking to overhaul even popular programs championed by Democrats. years. The Louisiana Republican, an ardent conservative, has moved the House Republican Conference closer to Trump throughout the campaign season as he crafts an “ambitious” 100-day agenda.

“Republicans in the House and Senate have a mandate,” Johnson said earlier this week. “The American people want us to implement and deliver the ‘America First’ agenda.”

Trump’s allies in the House of Representatives are already signaling that they will seek revenge for the legal troubles Trump faced while out of office. The president, who took office Wednesday, said he would nominate Rep. Matt Gaetz, a staunch loyalist, to be attorney general.

Meanwhile, Rep. Jim Jordan, chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said GOP lawmakers are “taking nothing off the table” on plans to investigate special counsel Jack Smith, even as Smith wraps up two federal investigations into Trump. He is accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and hoarding classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago mansion.

Still, with several races yet to be determined, Republicans may hold the majority by a few seats as the new Congress begins. Trump’s decision to withdraw from the House for positions in his own administration (Rep. Gaetz, Mike Waltz and Elise Stefanik so far) could complicate Johnson’s ability to maintain a majority in the early days of the new Congress.

Gaetz submitted his resignation on Wednesday, effective immediately. Johnson said he hopes the seat will be filled by the time the new Congress convenes on Jan. 3. Special elections are required to replace members of the House of Representatives, and the congressional districts held by the three departing members have been held by Republicans for years.

With a small majority, a highly functioning Parliament is far from guaranteed. The last two years of the Republican House were defined by infighting as hardline conservative groups sought to gain influence and power by openly challenging party leaders. Although Johnson – at times with Trump’s help – has largely contained open rebellions against his leadership, the party’s right wing is on the rise and ambitious on the heels of Trump’s election victory.

The Republican majority also depends on a small group of lawmakers who won tough elections by running as moderates. It remains to be seen whether they will continue to subscribe to some of the most extreme proposals advocated by Trump and his allies.

Meanwhile, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is trying to ensure Democrats remain engaged on any legislation passed by Congress; That will depend on Democratic leaders uniting more than 200 members, even as the party undergoes an autopsy after election losses.

GOP leaders, who have a convincing majority in the Senate, are already working with Trump to confirm his Cabinet picks. Sen. John Thune of South Dakota won the internal election Wednesday to replace Sen. Mitch McConnell, the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

Thune has criticized Trump in the past but praised the incoming president during the leadership election.

“This Republican team is united. “We’re on the same team,” Thune said. “We are excited to regain the majority and begin working with our colleagues in the House to implement President Trump’s agenda.”

The GOP’s 53-seat majority in the Senate also leaves Republicans with comfortable room to confirm Cabinet positions or Supreme Court justices if there are vacancies. Not all of these approvals are guaranteed. Republicans were in disbelief when news broke on Capitol Hill Wednesday that Trump would nominate Gaetz for attorney general. Even Trump’s close allies in the Senate have moved away from supporting Gaetz as he faces a House Ethics Committee investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct and illegal drug use.

Still, on Sunday, Trump demanded that he allow any Republican leader to make executive appointments without a vote while the Senate is in recess. Such a move would have meant a significant shift of power away from the Senate, but all leadership candidates quickly accepted the idea. Democrats could potentially fight back against such a maneuver.

Meanwhile, Trump’s social media supporters, including Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, opposed the selection of a traditional Republican to preside over the Senate chamber. Thune once worked as a top lieutenant for McConnell, who called the former president a “despicable human being” in private memos.

But McConnell has made clear that the days of Republican resistance to Trump on Capitol Hill are over.

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