Republicans win 218 US House seats, giving Donald Trump and party control of state

The Republicans have gained enough seats to control the House of Representatives, ending the party's sweep of the government and guaranteeing their participation in the American government and President-elect Donald Trump.

The House Republican victory in Arizona, along with a win in California on Wednesday, gave the GOP a 218-seat House majority. Republicans previously won control of the Senate from Democrats.

With a hard-fought majority but few, Republican leaders see a mandate to expand the federal government and implement Trump's vision for the country.

The incoming president has promised to carry out the nation's largest deportations, extend tax breaks, punish his political enemies, seize control of the federal government's powerful tools and restructure the US economy. A GOP electoral victory ensures that Congress will be at the forefront of that agenda, and Democrats won't be nearly as powerful to watch it.

When Trump was elected president in 2016, Republicans also swept Congress, but he met Republican leaders who disagreed with his policy views, and a Supreme Court with a liberal majority. Not at this time.

When he returns to the White House, Trump will be working with a Republican Party completely transformed by his “Make America Great Again” movement and a Supreme Court run by conservative justices, including three appointees.

More to come