House Republicans enter 2026 with the challenge of securing conservative legislative wins despite narrow margins.
On Tuesday, House Republicans formulated a plan for the second year of the 119th Congress in a retreat with President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C.
The meeting was overshadowed by the death of 65-year-old Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Calif.
“Congress is devastated to learn this morning about the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Doug LaMalfa,” Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement Tuesday. “Doug was a lifelong resident of northern California and deeply loved its people.”
Razor-Thin Margins
LaMalfa’s death further weakens the Republican House majority just a day after Marjorie Taylor Greene’s retirement from the House due to a feud with Trump.
The GOP currently holds a slim 218 to 213 majority in the chamber, with four vacancies. This means that House leadership can only afford to lose two Republican votes while passing a bill.
Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia has scheduled a March 10 election to fill Greene’s seat, and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California has 14 days to call a special election for LaMalfa’s seat.
Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., acknowledged the difficulty of the situation in a statement to The Daily Signal, but suggested the way out of partisan gridlock could be picking up Democratic support for Republican-crafted legislation.
“House Republicans are committed to commonsense proposals that make a meaningful difference in the lives of the American people,” Murphy told The Daily Signal. “These should be bipartisan issues. Slim margins are difficult to work with in Congress but preserving the American Dream should not be a partisan exercise.”
Speaker Johnson had some success dealing with slim margins in 2025, uniting the conference’s often unruly factions behind ambitious legislation such as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Time’s Running Out
In less than a year, voters will determine which party controls the House of Representatives.
The odds have been stacked against Republicans from the very beginning, as only four midterm elections in the last 164 years have resulted in a net gain of House seats for the party in the White House.
Democrat control of the House would likely lead to subpoenas of administration officials, an increased likelihood of impeaching Trump, and two years of gridlock for conservative legislation.
Rep. Mark Harris, R-N.C., a member of the House Freedom Caucus, is urging aggressive action to enact Trump’s agenda.
“The American people expect a Republican-led Congress to deliver results. Alongside President Trump, we must leverage our House and Senate majorities to advance a bold agenda fulfilling more of our promises,” Harris told The Daily Signal.
The freedom caucus came into the retreat with a list of legislative goals, including requiring voters to provide proof of citizenship, preventing spending increases in the appropriations process, codifying Trump’s border policies, freezing all immigration, and prohibiting federal tax dollars from funding abortions.
Harris added that the Senate must be involved in this push as well.
“We must act urgently in the first quarter of 2026, using every tool available to compel the Senate to deliver now. The stakes extend beyond the next election—America’s future depends on it,” Harris told The Daily Signal.
The House has passed a number of conservative bills which have yet to receive a vote in the Senate, where bills typically require 60 votes for consideration. The bills include the SAVE Act, the Protect Children’s Innocence Act, and the No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act.
Affordability
The issue of affordability was credited as a key part of the message which helped Democrat Zohran Mamdani get elected as mayor of New York City in November.
A spokesperson for Rep. Jeff Crank, R-Colo., told The Daily Signal during the retreat that the congressman “believes that affordability should be a top priority of Congress this year.”
Part of this push will likely be include the issues of health care and insurance costs.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., told The Daily Signal in December to expect the House to pass “a long list of things that we know will reduce premiums” and that a party-line budget reconciliation bill could be the vehicle for these provisions.
