House flips to Democrats, setting up veto battles with Trump

Hakeem Jeffries is on track to become the first Black speaker of the House after Democrats won control of the chamber Tuesday night.

Democrats needed a net gain of five seats to flip the House, where all 435 seats were on the ballot. Republicans had held the majority since the 2022 midterms, and had entered this election with 218 members to Democrats' 214, alongside one independent and two vacancies.

What changed: The result breaks up the Republican hold on Washington. For the past two years, President Donald Trump and his party controlled the White House, House and Senate. The House is now set to have a Democratic speaker, while Trump remains president and can veto bills that reach his desk.

Jeffries, the New York Democrat who leads his party in the House, told supporters: "America is back." He said Democrats would focus on making life more affordable, including efforts involving housing, education, health care and retirement benefits. Those are large promises with a smaller constitutional detail attached: the president still has a veto.

The Republican view: Outgoing Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged the result in remarks to supporters. Keeping the House, he said, would have required Republicans to defy more than a century of midterm history. "It's very, very difficult to overcome and it looks like history will be kept tonight," Johnson said.

Why it matters: The speaker sets the House agenda and is second in the presidential line of succession, after the vice president. Jeffries would replace Johnson, who has held the job since 2023, if House Democrats elect him once the new Congress convenes.

The 120th Congress is scheduled to be sworn in on January 3, 2027, when Democrats will have to turn an election message about affordability and accountability into bills that can survive a divided Washington.