Kevin Kiley (R-CA), former President Donald Trump’s choice in California’s third congressional district, defeated his Democrat opponent on Tuesday, securing the House majority for the Republican Party, according to a Decision Desk HQ projection one week after Election Day.
The race was called for Kiley after the GOP secured victories in five key House districts in California and Arizona on Monday night.
During his campaign, Kiley called on a potential Republican-controlled House to return to Trump’s policies.
Kiley told Breitbart News in March:
If we get the majority in Congress, we’re going to need to actually put forward legislation that would return us to those policies of the Trump era, that were moving our country in the right direction to try to actually get our economy going again, to try to return security to our border, to lower taxes.
Although the Republican Party underperformed expectations, they only needed a net gain of five seats to secure the House majority. As of Tuesday, 205 races have been called for Democrats.
Republican Reps. Mike Garcia (R-CA), David Valadao (R-CA), and Lauren Boebert (R-CO) are still ahead in their races, which could extend the Republican majority to 221 if each is successful.
House Republicans on Tuesday nominated GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) to be Speaker of the House; he earned 188 votes compared to Rep. Andy Biggs’ (R-AZ) 31 votes.
McCarthy has until January to secure the 218 vote threshold required for him to be elected as speaker.
With the majority in their control, Republicans will have control over the various House committees, which play an essential role in investigations.
McCarthy has already spoken with top House Republicans about coordinating investigations across committees, including a probe of President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.
McCarthy also encouraged ranking Republicans currently sitting on House committees to send letters to Biden administration agencies asking them to turn over or preserve documents.
House Republicans have already sent more than 500 requests to agencies, according to the Washington Post.
