Speaker Mike Johnson’s historically narrow House majority is further eroded, leaving even less room for the GOP to maneuver as the party faces legislative challenges ahead.
Johnson can now afford the only GOP exit on party-line votes and still face New Jersey Democrat, Rep. Analylia Mejia, after being sworn in, can pass laws.
In the party breakdown, there are 217 Republicans, 214 Democrats, one independent and three vacant seats. Rep. Kevin Keeley of California, an independent, was elected as a Republican and continues to caucus with the GOP even though he officially left the party earlier this year.
The House majority comes amid Republican leaders hoping to pass the bill with only GOP votes to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol amid ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdowns.
Special elections are scheduled for June 2 and June 16 for the two vacant seats. Both districts are in California, with Republicans in the first and Democrats in the second. A special election has not yet been scheduled for the third vacant seat in the Republican-leaning Texas district.
At the start of the 119th Congress, Johnson was facing the narrowest House majority in nearly 100 years. The tight margin creates a major challenge for congressional Republicans as they seek to implement Trump’s legislative priorities, leaving little room for error.
In the November election, Republicans won 220 House seats, while Democrats won 215, the most narrowly divided House majority since the beginning of the Great Depression nearly a century ago.
At the start of the new congressional session, however, the partisan breakdown stood at 219 to 215, as former GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida opted not to return to Congress.
A majority vote of all members present and voting is required to pass a bill in the House. The magic number is 218 if every member shows up to vote and all 435 seats are filled, but that can change if there are vacancies or absentees. A tie vote in the House fails.
How is the majority of the House in history?
The last time a minority in the House won 215 or more seats was after the 1930 election, when Republicans won 218 seats, Democrats won 216 and the Farmer-Labor Party won one.
The 72nd Congress—which took place during the early years of the Great Depression era—officially began in March 1931, but did not actually convene until months later, in December 1931, to conduct legislative business.
At the official start of that term, in March, the House margin had narrowed even further – 217 seats for Republicans to 216 seats for Democrats for the Farmer-Labor Party and one vacancy resulting from the death of a Republican.
In an unusual turn of events, however, the partisan breakdown changed significantly by the time Congress convened when a series of additional deaths and subsequent special elections returned control of the chamber to Democrats, although the margin remained narrow.
According to House historical records, the 65th Congress had the closest party split in American history, but in that case, the partisan divide was so narrow that neither party could win a clear majority in the House based on election results, leaving Republicans with 215 seats and Democrats with 214 seats. As a result, third-party electors assumed the role of Speaker. the speaker
Challenges created by narrow majorities
Johnson won the speakership by one vote at the start of the 119th Congress.
The election was carried by a majority of 219 to 215, which meant that Johnson could only lose one Republican vote if every House member voted for him and all Democrats voted against him.
Due to vacancies caused by the death and resignation of MPs, party breakdown has occurred in the House several times.
Johnson has had a little more breathing room at times and congressional Republicans have moved to pass major legislation — most notably Trump’s massive tax and spending cut package in July — but not without challenges to unifying their caucus.
GOP leaders missed two Republican votes in the final passage of the tax and spending cut bill in the House. Representatives Thomas Massey of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania voted against the measure along with Democrats.
This story and headline has been updated with additional developments.
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi and Zach Wolf contributed to this report.
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