Republican House Republican Senate

Impeachment

If Republicans kept control of Congress in what was supposed to be a good year for Democrats, expect their takeaway to be this: that working with Trump gets Republicans reelected. For the most part, Republicans in Congress were loath to directly oppose the president in his first two years, and they certainly didn't launch major investigations into him or his administration beyond a politically fraught and broadly criticized look at Russian election interference. They probably wouldn’t have seen a reason to start. Impeachment There would have been no reason to expect any significant resistance to Trump within a Republican-controlled Senate, especially because some of his biggest Republican detractors — the late Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and retiring Sens. Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.) — wouldn’t be in Congress.

Legislation

Republicans could’ve had a do-over on one of their party's biggest failures in 2017: repealing the Affordable Care Act. House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) has said this would be a top priority for his party, and it's something Trump desperately wants, as well. Republicans could have also tried to cut spending on federal welfare programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. But would any of this get through the Senate? Legislation Even if Republicans add a few seats to their slim majority, they would probably not have enough votes to get anything past the 60-vote Democratic filibuster threshold. So expect Republicans to continue plowing through Trump's picks for the courts — and a new attorney general, because the president asked Jeff Sessions to resign.

Appointees

The House wouldn’t have any say here since the Senate considers and confirms Trump’s political appointees and federal judges. Appointees Republicans would have had a clear lane to continue to approve Trump's judicial nominees at a record pace. Republicans would have had another opportunity to replace a liberal justice on the Supreme Court with a conservative, as they did with Kavanaugh, should there be any more retirements in the next two years.

Leadership