President-elect Trump began endorsing fellow Republicans this week to replace members of Congress who have vacated their seats to join his Cabinet.
The endorsements come amid fears that the party’s razor-thin majority in the House – the size of which still remains undetermined – could be in jeopardy as a result of Trump’s selections from the lower chamber.
Trump threw his support behind two Floridians, former GOP state Sen. Randy Fine and the current chief financial officer for the Sunshine State, Jimmy Patronis Jr., both of whom are considering runs for Congress, according to the president-elect.
Fine would run in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, a seat that is currently held by Trump’s pick to be his next national security adviser, Rep. Michael Waltz. Patronis would run in Florida’s deep-red 1st District, previously held by former Rep. Matt Gaetz. Gaetz resigned from Congress after Trump nominated him to be attorney general, but allegations of sexual assault and other improprieties prompted Gaetz to withdraw his name from the running. He has denied any wrongdoing.
Trump, however, has not endorsed anyone to replace Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., the GOP House conference chair, whose solidly red seat in upstate New York will also be up for grabs if she is confirmed by the Senate to be the Trump administration’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Republicans in the House of Representatives are on track to have somewhere between a one- and three-vote majority once the few outstanding races are called. There are three races remaining that still need to be called, two in California and one in Iowa.
The balance of power in the House currently sits at 219 seats for Republicans and 213 for the Democrats. Republicans must hold 218 to retain their majority.
While Waltz, Stefanik and Gaetz’s seats all sit in Republican strongholds, lawmakers have nonetheless signaled concern, particularly, because the ensuing special elections could likely occur within the first weeks or months of Trump’s term and potentially stymie Trump’s ambitions for his first 100 days in office.
“I know he’s already pulled a few really talented people out of the House – hopefully no more for a little while until special elections come up, but it shows you the talent that we have and the ability we have,” Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., said last week during a press conference.Scalise is House majority leader.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., similarly said he did not believe Trump would pluck any more members from the House for his administration, adding that he and Trump broached the topic in discussions.
“President Trump fully understands and appreciates the math here, and it’s just a numbers game. You know, we believe we’re going to have a larger majority than we had last time. It’s too early to handicap it, but we are optimistic about that,” Johnson said. “But every single vote will count, because if someone gets ill or has a car accident or a late flight on their plane, then it affects the votes on the floor. So, I think he and the administration are well attuned to that. I don’t expect that we will have more members leaving, but I’ll leave that up to him.”
Trump-Vance transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Fox News Digital that the president-elect “is 100% committed” to working with House leadership, including Speaker Johnson, “to maintain the House GOP majority and immediately get to work in January” to implement the policies that voters elected him on.
