Dave Wasserman, a political analyst and the editor of the non-partisan Cook Political Report, reported Monday that Republicans came within less than 32,000 votes from regaining the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“Republicans came within 31,751 votes of winning the majority,” Wasserman wrote in a tweet, shortly after Democrat Anthony Brindisi conceded to former GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) in the race for New York’s 22nd Congressional District.
Tenney’s Empire State victory over Brindisi, the final undecided House race in the nation, gives Democrats in the House a slim majority of nine seats.
With Tenney’s victory cemented, and all totals finalized for the 2020 election, Republicans flipped 15 house seats held by Democrats. Tenney defeated Brindisi by a razor-thin margin of 109 votes.
The slim difference in the amount of votes cast for Republicans in the 2020 election, as compared to that of Democrats, is significant because more than 152 million total votes were cast in House races last year. The difference in votes cast for GOP candidates compared to votes cast for Democrats in 2020 House elections is less than 0.1 percent.
While Republicans saw success in several House races across America, Democrats were less successful, as they were only able to flip three House seats, two of which stemmed from North Carolina.
Notable GOP House flips include former NFL player Burgess Owens’ victory over former Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT) in Utah’s 4th Congressional District and Nicole Malliotakis’ victory over Max Rose in the race for New York’s 11th Congressional District.
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