Republicans won control of the United States Senate and House of Representatives in the Nov. 5 general election. On Wednesday, the Associated Press officially called an Arizona district for Republican Juan Ciscomani over Democrat Kirsten Engel, pushing the GOP over the 218-seat minimum for majority control.
While eight races are still yet to be called — including four in California, conservatives will continue to have control of the chamber with a narrow majority.
The party took control of the Senate, maintaining key seats in Nebraska, Florida, and Texas and flipping others in West Virginia, Montana, and Ohio to claim a 53-47 majority.
The legislative flip accompanies President-elect Donald Trump’s victory to give Republicans a majority in all three branches of the federal government. Republican presidents have nominated six of the nine justices of the Supreme Court since President-elect Trump appointed Justice Amy Coney Barrett in 2020.
The Republican trifecta concerns some reproductive rights advocates who fear a national abortion ban under the next presidential administration. Giuliana Feca, a volunteer for Planned Parenthood in Chicago, said she was disappointed in the public’s choices of anti-abortion Republican candidates.
“The outcomes that the Republicans wanted were very upfront and clear,” she said. “Still, no one listened.”
Feca said she worries about the possibility of Trump appointing another Supreme Court justice.
“I know everyone’s saying, ‘they can’t really change the outcome because it was a Supreme Court ruling,’” she said. “But I think, because he is in office, he gets to appoint new Supreme Court justices. He gets to do all of that.”
Nicholas Shoentag, a freshman majoring in economics, doubted there would be an immediate impact of conservative policies on California residents. He predicted the state will remain a democratic stronghold despite federal GOP control.
“Whether you like it or not,” he said, “the Democratic policies and Democratic hold is kind of here to stay so we’re going to still have abortion rights, I think, in California, and it’s going to be still very difficult for Republicans to pass policy here.”
During the campaign, Democrats attacked Republican candidates over Project 2025 — a policy plan for a second Trump term by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank. Trump said the plan was not associated with his campaign though several formal Trump Administration staffers were involved in creating the project.
Plans in the book, “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise,” include large cuts to the federal bureaucracy, tightening immigration policy, blocking mail sales of abortion pills and reducing benefits for low-income families and individuals.
Republicans will hold a narrow majority in the House and will need some amount of unity to pass their priorities. At least three House Republicans have been tapped to serve in the Trump administration.
One representative, Matt Gaetz, has already resigned from his position after Trump named Gaetz as his pick to serve as attorney general. A special election will be held to fill his seat.
Fatima Flores, a junior majoring in computer science, said she is unsure how the national policies will impact Californians in light of actions by the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom.
“Gavin Newsom is gonna fight as much as he can,” she said. “California is gonna fight as much as [it] can.”
Newsom convened state lawmakers to Sacramento for a special session after President-elect Trump’s victory. In a public statement, he announced that lawmakers will meet on Dec. 2 to take immediate action to counter policies targeting abortion, immigration, and disaster relief funding.
Flores, however, said she was still concerned about the Republican shift in California’s electorate with 69% of California counties shifted right in the 2024 election compared with 2016.
“I have seen that California’s journey [is] more on the red side,” she said. “I think the way maybe it would impact California would be the people, being more open with showing racism or [supporting] anti-abortion laws.”
Carl Sarrazolla, a 1984 USC graduate and Washington resident, said he would be looking to see the leanings of the Republicans elected to Congress.
“It could go a couple of ways. We’ll see if some of the more moderate Republicans can balance out the far right leaning ones, and if they can manage Trump,” Sarrazolla said. " I was happy to see that one of our representatives got re-elected — he beat out a guy that was supported by Trump. He’s also Republican but he was one of the ones that voted to impeach Trump.”
House Republicans voted internally on Wednesday to nominate Mike Johnson for the speakership and Senate Republicans chose John Thune as majority leader. Johnson will still have to be chosen as speaker by the chamber at large.