Jeffries says Democrats are “defying political gravity” since the House has not yet convened

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said congressional Democrats were “defying political gravity” as control of Congress remained unclear Wednesday.

Even though Donald Trump has won the presidency and Republicans are poised to take control of the Senate, Democrats are more confident about their chances of taking control of the House, where dozens of races are dead as of Wednesday around 2 p.m were scheduled.

Jeffries, a New York Democrat, expressed optimism about Democrats’ chances of flipping the House. In a statement, he wrote that House Democrats are “once again defying political gravity” in a “challenging election environment.”

“The House remains very much in play due to the continued strength of our battle-tested incumbents, critical open seats in Virginia and Michigan, victories in Alabama and Louisiana, and the flipping of four Republican-held seats in New York this year. ” he wrote.

Jeffries added that the path to a majority runs through seats in Arizona, California, Iowa and Oregon.

According to CNN, as of 2:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Republicans had gained 207 seats in the House of Representatives, while Democrats had gained 188 seats.

Newsweek I emailed the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the National Republican Congressional Committee for comment.

Which battleground seats did Democrats and Republicans win?

So far, Democrats have flipped two House seats: in New York’s 22nd District, where Democrat John Mannion unseated GOP Rep. Brandon Williams, and in Alabama’s 2nd District, where Democrat Shomari Figures a newly drawn seat against the Republican Caroleene Dobson won.

Republicans flipped three seats in North Carolina that were redistributed from Democratic-leaning or competitive seats to more comfortable GOP seats.

In Pennsylvania’s 8th District, Republican Rob Bresnahan fired Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright. Meanwhile, in Michigan’s 7th District, Republican Tom Barrett defeated Democrat Curtis Hertel in an open seat vacated by Republican Elissa Slotkin, who remained locked in a tight Senate race.

Democrat Kristen McDonald Rivet retained her seat in Michigan’s 8th District, which includes cities like Flint and Saginaw.

Which seats in the House of Representatives have not yet been filled?

There are still no House seats declared across the country, and Democrats would need to win a majority of these elections to win a majority.

Democrat Jared Golden had a narrow lead in Maine’s 2nd District over Republican Austin Therlault, who supported Trump in the presidential race. This seat has long been considered a bust, but Golden has managed to win tough races in the Republican-leaning seat in the past.

According to CNN, Democrats also carried two GOP-held seats in New York – the Long Island-based 4th District and the suburban 19th District.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Rep. Susan Wild dropped out of the race for the 7th District, based in Allentown, while Republican Rep. Scott Perry held the lead in the 10th District, near Harrisburg.

Iowa’s 1st District, where Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks faced a challenge from Democrat Christina Bohannan, was not called. In 2020, Miller-Meeks won by just six votes. GOP Rep. Don Bacon led Nebraska’s 2nd District, which supported Harris.

However, California may be decisive in determining which party controls the House of Representatives. Despite being a deeply Democratic state, Republicans have flipped a number of congressional districts in suburbs as well as the Central Valley in 2022.

Republicans had modest leads in most of these battleground counties, but more than 40 percent of ballots in California were not counted. Democrats hope these votes will ultimately result in some of these races being included in their column. But it could take days for those ballots to be counted, meaning it could take a little longer to know which party will control Congress in January.

Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez had a slight lead in Washington’s 3rd District, while Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer trailed Democrat Janelle Bynum in Oregon’s 5th District.