117th Congress Underway

The 117th congress convened Sunday, January 3.

Senate

• Republicans will start in control with 51 seats, Democrats 48.
• Control of the Senate after January 20 will hinge on two runoff elections in Georgia on Tuesday. Republicans maintain control by winning either.
• The term for Georgia Republican David Perdue has ended. That seat will be vacant until a winner is certified in his runoff. Perdue is being challenged by Democrat Jon Ossoff.
• Georgia Republican Kelly Loeffler remains in office while the special election runoff is conducted. Either she or Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock will then serve through 2022.
• 34 seats will be contested in 2022. Republicans will be defending 20 of those seats, Democrats 13. The winner of the Georgia special election will determine the party for the 34th seat.
• The 2022 Interactive Senate Map is available. 

House

• Democrats retained control but have a much narrower majority.  At the outset, that party will have 222 seats, Republicans 211. There are two vacancies.
• Nancy Pelosi reelected as Speaker of the House.
• NY-22 is vacant as the November election remains unresolved. Former Rep. Claudia Tenney (R) currently has a lead of about 30 votes over Rep. Anthony Brindisi (D). 
• LA-5 is vacant. Rep.-elect Luke Letlow (R) died on December 29. An all-party primary will be held March 20. If no candidate gets 50%, there will be a runoff on April 24.
• Three Democrats are expected to resign to join the Biden administration:  Cedric Richmond (LA-2), Deb Haaland (NM-1), Marcia Fudge (OH-11). Haaland and Fudge must be confirmed by the Senate.
• An initial version of the 2022 Interactive House Map will be available in a few weeks. However, redistricting later this year - after the Census results come out - will lead to district boundaries changing in most states for the 2022 midterms.
  • District lines for congressional representation will not change until January, 2023.