How many seats did Republicans hold in the House at the start of the 2025 Congress?

1. A Tight Majority — Why the headline numbers diverge and what each count is actually measuring

Multiple reputable trackers reported different Republican seat totals at the opening of the 119th Congress: some sources list 220 Republicans sworn in at the start, while others — including the Congressional Research Service (CRS) profile — record 219 Republican members and several vacancies. The disagreement stems from timing and classification: one count appears to reflect the number of Republican members who won election and were expected to serve at the start, while the CRS snapshot documents the actual membership status (seated members, delegates, and vacant seats) as the session began. The CRS profile explicitly lists 219 Republicans, 212 Democrats, several delegates, and multiple vacancies, which captures the real-time roster used by institutional offices ^{[1] [3]}. This difference matters because the effective working majority in the chamber depends on who is sworn in and present, not simply on election-night tallies.

2. The Congressional Research Service baseline — why it matters for the “start” count

The CRS membership profile updated August 4, 2025, is built from official House records and is intended as a definitive accounting of membership at specific reference points. That profile records 219 Republican Representatives at the beginning of the 119th Congress, plus 3 Republican Delegates, with Democrats counted separately and several vacancies noted. The CRS approach distinguishes between seated voting members and non-voting delegates, and it records vacancies arising from resignations, deaths, or contested results; this makes it the most operationally relevant baseline for determining the House’s party balance at the opening of the 2025 Congress. Using the CRS baseline therefore supports the claim that Republicans held 219 voting seats as the session commenced ^[1].

3. Other contemporary tallies — 220 Republicans and why they were reported

At least two other contemporary sources reported 220 Republican seats at the start of the 119th Congress. A January 3, 2025 summary cites a 220-seat Republican count tied to the post-election composition following the 2024 cycle, and a February 2025 Statista snapshot also lists 220 Republicans sworn in, describing that as a narrow majority. Those counts likely reflect a post-election expectation or the initial speaker-election-era roster before later administrative adjustments, vacancies, or seat-classification changes were reflected in CRS and House administrative records. The 220 figure therefore represents a plausible contemporaneous accounting used by some outlets but does not displace the CRS operational membership snapshot that recorded 219 Republican voting members ^{[4] [2]}.

4. How vacancies, delegates, and resignations produce apparent contradictions

The practical reason for a one-seat discrepancy is straightforward: vacancies and the treatment of non-voting delegates. House rosters in early January can show differences between election outcomes and seated membership because of delayed special election results, resignations prior to swearing-in, or contested returns. Several sources explicitly note vacancies and member changes occurring after the initial swearing-in that affected totals reported later in the year. When analysts aggregate election-night wins without reconciling subsequent vacancies or counting delegates differently, that yields a 220-style tally; when institutional records are consulted for who was actually seated and recorded at the session’s start, the CRS count of 219 emerges ^{[5] [3] [6]}.

5. Bottom line and how to report it responsibly

For a clear, institutionally grounded statement about the House at the opening of the 2025 Congress, use the Congressional Research Service’s membership profile: Republicans held 219 voting seats at the start of the 119th Congress, with additional context of Republican delegates and several vacancies noted by CRS. Reporters and analysts should flag that some contemporaneous outlets reported 220 Republicans based on election-night or pre-seat tallies; that alternate figure reflects differences in counting methods rather than substantive disagreement about the narrowness of the majority. The practical takeaway is that the Republican majority was extremely slim, and small post-election changes (vacancies, special elections) determined the exact working margin ^{[1] [2] [5]}.