As John pointed out yesterday, the results of the 2022 midterms and control of the House of Representatives have finally been “officially” determined. With 218 seats and potentially a few more to come, Nancy Pelosi’s second tenure as Speaker is coming to a close. A nascent revolt among Republicans appears to have fizzled and Kevin McCarthy will almost certainly relieve her of the gavel, despite the party’s poor performance in the red wavelet. When the AP finally called it (because they apparently now control all US elections) they had to provide an “explainer” as to why they did so.

The release of thousands of votes in California’s 27th District allowed the AP to determine that not enough votes were outstanding for Democratic challenger Christy Smith to overtake Garcia.

It took more than a week after the Nov. 8 midterm elections for Republicans to reach the minimum 218 seats needed to flip the House from Democratic control for the next Congress. The full scope of the party’s majority may not be clear for several more days — or weeks — as votes in competitive races are still being counted.

Democrats will finish with at least 210 seats but no more than 217.

For anyone who is still moping about as a result of the GOP’s lukewarm performance in the midterms, it’s worth remembering that this is still a very significant development. Republicans didn’t run up the numbers required to essentially silence the Democrats entirely, but this is still the functional end of Joe Biden’s presidency, assuming McCarthy can keep his entire caucus in line.

Remember that the House originates all legislation that deals with appropriating funds. If the GOP majority leadership doesn’t schedule a vote, it doesn’t happen. (Yes, it’s technically possible for the members to force a vote without the Speaker via a discharge petition, but that requires 218 votes so it would need a lot of Republican defectors to happen.) That means, as McCarthy has already suggested, that there won’t be any more “blank checks” for Ukraine unless the Republican leadership finds it to be warranted. There won’t be any tax increases.

Basically, Biden’s ultra-progressive agenda comes to a screeching halt in January aside from the things he can force through via executive orders. Of course, that’s how he’s handled most of his presidency anyway, so we might not notice all that much of a difference. But still, a win is a win, so conservatives can take some solace from this. Now we just need to wait and see precisely how conservative McCarthy’s leadership will wind up being.

So what about the soon-to-be-ex Speaker? Rumors have been swirling for weeks suggesting that Pelosi would head for the exits if her party lost the majority. According to her spokesperson, she’ll tell us today.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is expected to address her plans with colleagues on Thursday in the wake of Democrats narrowly losing control of the House to Republicans in the midterm elections.

Pelosi’s decision to either seek another term as the Democratic leader or to step aside has been widely anticipated. It would come after the party was able to halt an expected Republican wave in the House and Senate but also in the aftermath of a brutal attack on her husband, Paul, late last month in their San Francisco home.

“The Speaker plans to address her future plans tomorrow to her colleagues. Stay tuned,” Pelosi’s spokesman Drew Hammill tweeted late Wednesday.

Pelosi has been somewhat surprisingly mum about her plans. She won another term in the House easily this month, but that doesn’t guarantee anything going forward. If she doesn’t feel like budging, she could probably assume the position of Minority Leader, though there have been steady rumblings among younger Democrats suggesting it’s time for some new blood in the party’s leadership roles. Alternately, she could eschew all leadership positions and just finish out her term with the rest of the rank-and-file members. The final option is that she could announce that she’s retiring in January and just leave.

But would she just pack it in and go home? It’s possible. Pelosi will be turning 83 in March and she has a husband at home who is still recovering from having his head bashed in with a hammer by a deranged, drug-addicted, BLM-loving nudist. She also has a sizable pack of grandchildren she would probably like to spend more time with. I doubt many people would fault her for hanging up her gloves and heading back to San Francisco.

But that would be a fairly selfish move, wouldn’t it? She would essentially be saying that she was willing to stay on the job longer, but only if she was in charge. She would also force a special election in her home district at a time when most people are probably burned out on the idea of yet another campaign. In any event, we should know soon enough. For now, we’ll get to stay tuned and see what the Democrats try to ram through during the lame-duck session.