After Democrats won both chambers of Congress, many may be wondering what comes next. What is the timeline from now until they officially take control?
The midterm elections Tuesday night saw Democrats take 54 Senate seats, with two still to be called as of Wednesday morning, and 228 House seats, with 68 still to be called, The Associated Press reported.
Are the House and Senate in session?
No, neither the U.S. House of Representatives nor the U.S. Senate were in session as of Wednesday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) put the House in recess for seven weeks starting in mid-September, The Washington Post reported. The House is scheduled to return to session on Nov. 9, according to the House Calendar on Majority Leader Steve Scalise’s website. Once they come back, they’ll be in session for two weeks, take the week of Thanksgiving off, then return until Dec. 17. The House will adjourn for the holidays and will not be back until 2027, according to the House calendar.
It officially convened on Tuesday at 2 p.m., with Rep. Darrell Issa acting as Speaker pro tempore for the day; after a prayer, acceptance of the journal of the previous day’s proceedings, and the Pledge of Allegiance, the House adjourned at 2:02 p.m. until Thursday, according to the House Clerk’s website.
Similar schedules were followed on a handful of days over the past month and a half.
As for the Senate, the upper chamber is also on recess, adjourning on Sept. 30 for the midterm election, USA Today reported.
According to the Senate’s schedule, the lawmakers are also expected to return to Washington on Nov. 9 and will be in session Monday and Tuesday. It will then be back on Nov. 16 for the week, and, like the House, will take the week of Thanksgiving off, returning on Nov. 30. It will be in Session for the first three weeks of December as well, and will be in recess until 2027.
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When does the 120th session of the United States Congress begin?
The next session of Congress, the 120th, will begin in January 2027, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center website.
Section 1 of the 20th Amendment to the Constitution states, “the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.”
Section 2 reads: “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.”
Jan. 3 is a Sunday in 2027.
Congress.gov said that the Jan. 3 date has been “the exception rather than the rule,” with nine of the past 15 Congresses starting on a day other than Jan. 3. Since 1995, the latest date Congress has been seated was Jan. 7, which happened twice - in 1997 and 2003. The 119th Congress was seated on Jan. 3.
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House leadership
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson beat his opponents to keep his seat representing Louisiana’s fourth district for a fifth term.
He won the race with 134,739 votes or 58.5% with 99% of votes being counted. Democrat Conrad Cable had 52,893 votes or just under 23%, the AP said.
While he will remain in office, he will not be in party leadership
CNN reported that he told staff on Wednesday morning that he would not run for minority leader. The AP also reported the news, both citing “sources.”
The AP predicted that he would have been challenged by party rivals. He did pledge after the Democrats won control, “come 2028, we WILL take back the House and we will finish the job.”
The job of minority leader will likely be determined between Scalise and House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, but others may be on a short list, CNN predicted.
So who will lead the House? The chamber will choose the Speaker of the House once it is seated. The front-runner is Rep. Hakeem Jeffries from Brooklyn, New York, who will have to be nominated for the role and elected. If chosen, he will be the first Black Speaker of the House in its history, the AP reported. The party will likely choose the leader during caucus elections this month.
As for the Democrats No. 2 and No. 3, the majority leader is expected to be Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, while Rep. Pete Aguilar of California is expected to be selected as majority whip, the AP reported.
Senate leadership
Moving to the Senate, before Tuesday’s election, Politico and other media outlets predicted that if the Democrats took control of the upper chamber, New York Sen. Chuck Schumer would be tapped to return as the Senate Majority Leader, a role currently held by South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune, who said on Wednesday that Republicans “will not stand idly by” as Democrats try to reverse Trump’s moves of tax and spending cuts, The Hill reported.
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Senate Democrats are expected to select their leadership early next month, Politico said.
Time said it was unclear whether there would be challenges to Schumer’s leadership before January.