The long-awaited 2022 midterm elections took place on Nov. 8th, 2022. In the weeks leading up to the elections, hundreds of thousands of voters took to social media, proudly, boasting their political stance on the respective ballot. Following the loss of the 2020 election where Republican candidate, President Donald Trump, faced defeat against former Vice President, Joe Biden, Republicans all around the nation sought to take the next best thing than holding the executive office: Congress. 

After the uproar and build-up for the 2022 legislative run, many Republicans throughout the country preached that a “red wave” was on the horizon.  

While the red wave some hoped for never came, Republicans were still able to narrowly gain control of the House of Representatives, which no-doubtably will change the course of U.S. politics, especially after the Democrat’s continuous control of the House since 2019. 

It’s been two years since a new congress has come into office, but arguably, one of the biggest events that took place during this election is the resignation of longtime Speaker of the House of Representatives and Democrat Party Leader, Nancy Pelosi, who gave up the Speaker of the House position after serving two four-year terms, the first from 2007 to 2011, and the second from 2019 to 2023. 

Pelosi has served a combined total of four congressional terms as Speaker of the House, but she’s been active in the US Congress since 1987. She began her political career representing California’s 12th congressional district as a member of the Democrat Party, eventually becoming the first woman Speaker of the House in United States history.

“I believe there will be a gridlock in Congress now,” A.P. U.S. government teacher Roberto Sanchez said. 

The “gridlock” that Sanchez refers to stems from both the President and the Senate being controlled by the Democrat Party, but with the House being controlled by the Republicans. 

“Everything the Democrats did to Trump, the Republicans are going to do with Biden … they might even impeach Biden. That’s my prediction,” Sanchez said. 

The 118th Congress marked another notable development in political representation. Due to Pelosi’s resignation as leader of the Democrat party, congressional Democrats sought to elect her replacement. The position landed with Hakeem Jeffries, making him the first African American to lead a party in congress. 

With the exit of Nancy Pelosi, a new Speaker of the House was needed; however, the election for the new Speaker of the House proved to be far more complex than anticipated. After a long, grueling four-day negotiation, Republican Kevin McCarthy from California, was named Speaker of the House after 15 votes. 

Right away, the new Republican-ran House set the agenda for their next goals which include tackling the national debt, investigating the Biden family, and making legislative reforms to shape the country.

House Republicans have already sought to start making impactful reforms. One of the first actions being the new House passing a bill that would severely cut funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The other was the Born Alive bill, which put into place that in the event a child survives an abortion, health providers are required to attempt to preserve the life of the baby. “House

Republicans want to help large corporations and multi-millionaires avoid paying their fair share of taxes,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a Tweet posted to his Twitter account on Jan. 10, 2023.