WASHINGTON — The House Committee on Agriculture is likely to see new leadership in January as Republicans are favored to take the majority with around 60 races still to be called. In the Senate, a handful of races were too close to call, so control of that house, and its agriculture committee, were still to be determined the day after the 2022 midterm elections.
If the GOP takes control of the lower chamber, ranking Republican member Glenn “GT” Thompson of Pennsylvania, could become the House Agriculture chairman. In addition to Mr. Thompson, Republican House committee members winning re-election bids included Austin Scott of Georgia, Rick Crawford of Arkansas, Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, Doug LaMalfa of California, David Rouzer of North Carolina, Trent Kelly of Mississippi, Don Bacon of Nebraska, Dusty Johnson of South Dakota, Jim Baird of Indiana, Troy Balderson of Ohio, Michael Cloud of Texas, Tracey Mann of Kansas, Randy Feenstra of Iowa, Mary Miller of Illinois, Barry Moore of Alabama, Kat Cammack of Florida and Michelle Fischbach of Minnesota.
Republican members leaving the committee included Vicky Hartzler of Missouri, who lost a primary bid; Rodney Davis of Illinois, whose district was eliminated; Chris Jacobs of New York, who retired from Congress; and Mayra Flores of Texas, who was defeated in the general election by Democrat Vicente Gonzalez.
On the Democratic side of the aisle, current committee chairman David Scott of Georgia won his bid for re-election. Also expected to retain House seats were Jim Costa of California, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Alma Adams of North Carolina, Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, Shontel Brown of Ohio, Chellie Pingree of Maine, Gregorio Kilili Camacho Sablan of the Northern Mariana Islands, Ann McClane Kuster of New Hampshire, Delegate Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands, Salud Carbajal of California, Ro Khanna of California, Lou Correa of California, Angie Craig of Minnesota, Josh Harder of California, Kim Schrier of Washington, Jimmy Panetta of California, Sanford Bishop of Georgia, Marcy Kaptur of Ohio and Sharice Davids of Kansas.
Re-election bids by Jahana Hayes of Connecticut, Tom O’Halleran of Arizona and Cindy Axne of Iowa were too close to call the day after the midterm election, national news sources said.
Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney of New York was defeated by Republican Mike Lawler. Democrat Al Lawson of Florida lost his seat to Republican Representative Neal Dunn after running in a different district when his own was eliminated.
Democrats Bobby Rush and Cheri Bustos, both of Illinois, will retire from the House when the 117th Congress concludes.
Control of the US Senate still was in play the day after the midterm elections. After the Democrats flipped one seat (Pennsylvania), the parties each had 48 seats secured. Should the Democrats retain their razor-thin majority (with tie-breaking votes handled by Vice President Kamala Harris), the Senate Ag committee was expected to remain under the control of Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan, who was re-elected in 2018. Committee member Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado retained his seat over Republican challenger Joe O’Dea. Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia will face a runoff election against Republican challenger Herschel Walker.
Other committee members not up for re-election in 2022 include Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Tina Smith of Minnesota, Richard Durbin of Illinois, Cory Booker of New Jersey and Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico,
Members leaving the committee include Democrat Patrick Leahy, who will retire from Congress in January.
Should the GOP prevail in the tight race for Senate control, ranking Republican committee member John Boozman of Arkansas was expected to become the chairman. Committee member John Hoeven of North Dakota was re-elected over Democratic challenger Katrina Christiansen. Member Charles Grassley of Iowa defeated Democrat Michael Franken to keep his seat. And John Thune of South Dakota was re-elected over Democratic challenger Brian Bengs.
Republican committee members not up for re-election in 2022 included Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Cindy Hyde-Smith of Mississippi, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Deb Fischer of Nebraska, and Mike Braun of Indiana.