Rep. Steny Hoyer Advises Biden to Look Elsewhere After Administration Picks Reduce Slim Democratic House Majority by 2 Seats

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House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is advising President-elect Joe Biden to find staff for his administration outside the ranks of House Democrats after his initial picks put the party on track to hold a mere two-seat majority in the upcoming Congress.

“I’m certainly concerned by the slimming of the majority,” Hoyer told reporters on Wednesday. “I made the case to the administration early on that I wanted them to be very careful in terms of the members that they appointed from the Congress given the closeness of our majority.”

Biden’s initial picks include Reps. Cedric Richmond (D-LA) to act as a senior White House adviser and Marcia Fudge (D-OH) as his nominee for secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Both represent solidly Democratic districts, which means special elections to replace the vacancies should result in Democrats retaining control of the House.

Until those elections are held, Democrats are likely to hold 220 seats in the chamber, with 218 required for a majority when the chamber is at full capacity. Republicans are presently slated to hold 211 seats, with Republicans candidates leading in two more districts — in New York and in Iowa — where election results have not been finalized.

The slim majority will require House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to win widespread support from members of her party in order to pass legislation through the chamber, which may come as a challenge. A call among House Democrats leaked just days after the election revealed that members held deep-seated disagreements about how they should proceed, with Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) warning her colleagues that they would be “f—ing torn apart again in 2022” if they failed to change their messaging on “socialism” and on defunding the police.