The 2022 election left Congress divided, with Republicans controlling the House, Democrats controlling the Senate and both chambers held by extremely narrow margins. Add in a crop of new people in leadership positions and it could present challenges for public affairs teams.
In the House, Republicans will run the chamber with a 222-212 advantage, an extremely thin margin in a body where 218 lawmakers represents a majority. In the Senate, Democrats hold a 51-49 edge, with Vice President Kamala Harris capable of stepping in to cast a tie-breaking vote.
It all combines to form a complex landscape. With Congress divided and a presidential election kicking off, the prospects for major legislation are slim. The bipartisan cooperation seen on infrastructure and gun control bills in the last year will likely be in short supply. Yet, there will still be plenty of action as the Republican majority in the House approves legislation to signal its policy positions, even if most of those bills will not pass in the Senate.
The situation is made more complex by the fact that committee chairs and other leadership roles in both parties and in both chambers have changed due to retirements, resignations, and electoral results. In the House, the office of the speaker and the minority leader have both turned over.
What that means for public affairs teams is that the coming months are likely to be busy as they build relationships with new committee chairs, respond to partisan bills and track a new slate of congressional investigations that could emerge now that Republicans control the House. As the agenda unfolds, here are some of the people who are calling the shots.
House Republican Leadership (Majority)
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (CA-20) got off to a troubled start when it required five days of dealmaking and 15 votes to win the support of Republican lawmakers to install him in the position. Now, he must steer a House Republican conference that is historically difficult to govern—former Republican Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan both faced challenges—and is ideologically divided. Members of the House Republican leadership team also include:
- Rep. Steve Scalise (LA-1), who will serve as Majority Leader. Scalise has been a strong voice in Republican Washington—he previously served as minority whip—and will grow more so in his new role. He was one of four people who were shot and wounded at a practice for the Congressional Baseball Game in 2017.
- Rep. Tom Emmer (MN-6), who will serve as Majority Whip, in charge of marshaling Republican votes. Emmer has spent eight years in the House and served as chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, which helps Republicans get elected to the House.
- Rep. Elise Stefanik (NY-21), who will serve as House Republican Conference Chair. Stefanik was elected to the role in 2021 after former Rep. Liz Cheney was removed from the position following her criticism of former President Donald Trump. Stefanik was reelected to the post this year.
- Rep. Jason Smith (MO-8), who will serve as Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, where all tax bills to be considered by Congress must originate.
- Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (WA-5), who will serve as Chair of the House Energy and Commerce committee. In operation for more than 200 years, the committee has a massive jurisdiction, ranging from telecommunications to food and drug safety.
- Kay Granger (TX-12), who will serve as Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, which controls trillions of dollars in government spending.
House Democratic Leadership (Minority)
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (CA-11), the first woman to serve as House Speaker in U.S. history, relinquished the gavel when Republicans took control of the House. The California representative then declined to remain atop House Democratic leadership, even though she retained her seat, and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) was elected as Minority Leader. Jeffries, who has served in Congress for a decade, is the first African American lawmaker to lead a major party caucus in either chamber of Congress. Members of the House Democratic leadership team also include:
- Rep. Katherine Clark (MA-5), who will serve as Minority Whip. Clark has represented her district for a decade, and served as Assistant Democratic Leader from 2021 to 2023.
- Rep. James Clyburn (SC-6), who will serve as Assistant Democratic Leader. Now in his 16th term, Clyburn served in this same role from from 2011 to 2019 and has twice served as majority whip.
- Rep. Pete Aguilar (CA-33), who will serve as House Democratic Caucus Chairman. The California representative, who has served since 2015, is the highest-ranking Latino in Congress.
Senate Democratic Leadership (Majority)
Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York remains Majority Leader in the Senate, where Democrats hold the majority thanks in part to three independents. Senators Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont caucus with Democrats. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, a Democrat who went independent in December of 2022, retains her Democratic committee assignments. Schumer, the first Jewish American to head either chamber of Congress, has plenty of work ahead, having to contend with both a thin majority and a Republican House. Members of the Senate Democratic leadership team also include:
- Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, who will serve as President Pro Tempore. Murray is the forest woman in U.S. history to hold the role, which is third in line to the presidency. She will also chair the Senate Appropriations Committee.
- Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, who will serve as Senate Majority Whip, a post he has held (with Democrats holding both the majority and the minority) since 2005. Durbin also chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee.
- Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, who will chair the Democratic Steering Committee. She also chairs the Senate Committee on Rules and Administration.
- Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, who will serve as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, which has jurisdiction over everything from military research and development to pay and benefits for members of the armed forces.
- Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who will serve as Chairman of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Sanders, who has long been critical of corporate interests and antagonistic toward lobbyists, has some advocacy professionals concerned that companies may need to work harder to get their message across to the committee
Senate Republican Leadership (Minority)
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell enters the session as the longest-serving party leader the chamber has ever seen. Yet the Kentucky Senator, now 80, has his work cut out for him, with Democrats in the majority and an ideological rift within his own party. Members of the Senate Republican leadership team also include:
- Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, who will serve as Senate Minority Whip. Thune has served in the Senate since 2005, after defeating Democratic Senator Tom Daschle to win his seat. He has served as Whip since 2018.
- Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming, who will serve as Senate Republican Conference Chairman. Barrasso, a physician who has been in the Senate since 2007, has chaired the conference since 2018.
- Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who will serve as Chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee. Ernst is a former military officer and the first female combat veteran elected to the Senate.
