Republicans will win control of House as Democrats keep Senate

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will address her future plans on Thursday, a top aide said Wednesday, hours after it became clear that Republicans will hold the majority in the lower chamber.

CNN projected earlier this evening that Republicans will win the House after reaching the 218 seats necessary to claim a majority.

Separately, Pelosi issued a statement Wednesday saying that House Democrats “defied expectations” in the midterms but didn't mention her future plans.

Read Pelosi's full statement:

Former Vice President Mike Pence answered questions at a CNN town hall Wednesday — including some about his own 2024 plans and his thoughts on the direction of the Republican Party after a disappointing showing in last week’s midterm elections.

The event took place a day after former President Donald Trump announced his third bid for president and just hours after CNN projected Republicans will win the House. The event also follows the release of Pence’s memoir, “So Help Me God,” on Tuesday.

The former vice president took questions from CNN’s Jake Tapper and a live studio audience. Here are some of the key lines:

On Trump’s candidacy: Pence said Republicans will “have better choices” in the 2024 presidential race than Trump, but said he believes Americans want to get back to the policies of their administration. He did not say whether he would or wouldn't support Trump's candidacy.

On his own possible presidential bid: “I’ll keep you posted,” Pence told Tapper when asked if his future plans involve a run for president in 2024. "I think it’s time for new leadership in this country that will bring us together around our highest ideals,” he said.

On the Jan. 6 insurrection: Pence called it "the most difficult day of my public life." The former vice president said that on the day of the insurrection, he was determined to keep his oath – and going against Trump's wishes that day after working closely with him "was difficult." After being shown footage of rioters at the Capitol chanting “hang Mike Pence" during tonight's town hall, he said it saddened him to see those images, adding, “that day it angered me.”

On testifying before the Jan. 6 committee: Pence said that the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 "has no right" to his testimony, arguing that agreeing to appear before the panel would create a terrible precedent. Pence added that despite "the partisan nature" of the committee troubling him, he never stood in the way of his senior staff cooperating and testifying before the panel. Pence had said in August that he would consider testifying before the Jan. 6 committee.

On election deniers in the midterm elections: The former vice president said election deniers “did not fare as well” as candidates who “focused on the future.” Pence added, “I think both parties would do well to work to reaffirm public confidence in our elections and their integrity. But I also think that the time has come for us to produce leaders in both parties that are focused on the future.”

On misinformation in the 2020 election: Pence was pressed on why he didn’t do more to stop Trump from spreading misinformation about the 2020 election – and make it clear to the American people that his claims of election fraud were lies. Pence blamed outside advisors like Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and others for questioning the integrity of the election and essentially telling Trump what he wanted to hear. The president was surrounded by a group of advisers who were “telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear,” he said. Pence said he had forged a “close working relationship with Trump” calling him not only his president but his friend. He said he gave him advice in private and believed there were moments along the way where he had an impact in guiding Trump toward the right decision (without making their disagreements public).

On divisiveness in politics: Pence said voters want leaders that are more respectful, saying that he thinks the country is entering a “season where the American people are looking for that kind of leadership that vigorously debates our issues, stands strongly for them, as I always have, but does so with gentleness and respect.”

Read takeaways from tonight's town hall here.

Winning the House majority, even with a smaller margin than they’d hoped, will give Republicans some newfound power to set the agenda when they take over the chamber in January.

House Republicans will have subpoena power in the majority and control over powerful committees — and they plan to make investigations into the Biden administration a top priority.

On the legislative front, there will be some must-pass policy issues — like funding the government — that will test the ability of Republicans and Democrats to work together.

Here's a look at some of their plans:

Investigations: House Republicans are eyeing potential probes into everything from the chaotic pullout from Afghanistan, border policies being overseen by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, the FBI search of Mar-a-Lago, business dealings involving President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, and the bureaucratic decision-making behind Covid-related school closures and vaccine mandates.

House Republicans may also use their majority to push a counter-narrative around the Jan. 6, 2021, attack in an attempt to shift blame away from former President Donald Trump after a violent mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol.

Even before the party clinched the House majority, some of the investigative groundwork laid out by Republican officials had started to come to fruition. A federal judge in Louisiana on Monday, for instance, ordered an FBI cybersecurity official to be deposed in a lawsuit alleging that the FBI coerced social media companies to block stories about Hunter Biden’s laptop ahead of the 2020 election.

The FBI deposition is one of several sought by the state Republican officials in a lawsuit accusing Biden officials of effectively enforcing government censorship by pushing social media companies to, among other things, police speech about the origins of the virus that causes Covid-19, the efficacy of face masks and health care measures intended to curb the spread of the virus, as well as claims about election integrity and the security of voting by mail.

It’s not yet clear how far House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy is willing to go when it comes to January 6 and the 2020 presidential election. And some Republicans argue that the party would be better served by moving past 2020.

GOP legislative agenda amid narrow majority: The president can exercise veto power over legislation, but House Republicans will still be able to push some messaging bills that highlight their agenda.

In an exclusive, wide-ranging interview with CNN, two days before the midterm elections, McCarthy outlined his plans for power, which includes tackling inflation, rising crime and border security — three issues that have become central to Republicans’ closing pitch to voters.

McCarthy also left the door open to launching eventual impeachment proceedings, which some of his members have already begun to call for.

During a private intraparty meeting on Monday ahead of leadership elections, McCarthy promised he would strip power from Democrats, vowing to kick Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar off the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and California Reps. Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff off the House Intelligence Committee, according to a source in the room.

But Republicans’ slim majority will stand in the way of most – if not all — of their priorities in the chamber.

McCarthy’s allies have recently attempted to convince moderate Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas to switch parties in hopes of padding their slim margins, according to two sources familiar with the conversation. Cuellar flatly rejected the idea.

Following the US Supreme Court's ruling in June to get rid of the federal constitutional right to an abortion in June, former Vice President Mike Pence is now calling for states to enact further restrictions.

Speaking during a CNN town hall Wednesday night, he welcomed that the issue of abortion "has been returned to the states and the American people, where it belongs."

The court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade gave individual states the power to regulate abortion. And some states have chosen to protect it explicitly in their state constitutions while others have enacted laws that restricted, or outright banned, the procedure.

Pence said states should be enacting "pro-life protections" as well as "demonstrate generosity and compassion" to women facing what he described as "crisis pregnancies." He also said more resources should be allocated to help support newborns.

"I'll look forward to being a part of that — bringing principle and compassion to that debate. But because of the Supreme Court's decision, the debate is now returned to the American people. And I'll be a part of that in the cause of life," he added.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was pressed by CNN’s Jake Tapper on why he didn’t do more to stop former President Donald Trump from spreading misinformation about the 2020 election – and make it clear to the American people that his claims of election fraud were lies.

Pence, speaking at CNN's town hall Wednesday night, blamed outside advisors like Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani and others for questioning the integrity of the election and essentially telling Trump what he wanted to hear. The President was surrounded by a group of advisers who were “telling him what his itching ears wanted to hear,” he said.

But Tapper pointed out that Pence wrote in his book that the election was essentially over on Dec. 14, 2020, when the electoral college voted, yet Trump continued to push state lawmakers to try to overturn the election results. Tapper pointed out that Pence didn’t say anything publicly – making it clear that he disagreed with those efforts – until his public statement on Jan. 6.

Pence said he had forged a “close working relationship with Trump” calling him not only his president but his friend. He said he gave him advice in private and believed there were moments along the way where he had an impact in guiding Trump toward the right decision (without making their disagreements public).

But in the end, Pence said, Trump did not come around.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said that the House select committee investigating Jan. 6 "has no right" to his testimony, arguing that agreeing to appear before the panel would create a terrible precedent.

Pence added that despite "the partisan nature" of the committee troubling him, he never stood in the way of his senior staff cooperating and testifying before the panel.

Pence had said in August that he would consider testifying before the Jan. 6 committee.

Watch the moment:

Former Vice President Mike Pence said in CNN’s town hall that focusing on complaints about the 2020 election is a political loser for Republicans. 

Pence said he had hoped the GOP would win Senate control and win a larger majority in the House in last week’s midterm elections. 

The common denominator, Pence said, was that candidates focused on the future did very well while those focused on "relitigating the past" did not fare as well.

"And I expect that’s going to be taken to heart by Republicans,” he said. 

He deflected some blame, saying that he campaigned with some election deniers –including New Hampshire Senate nominee Don Bolduc and Arizona Senate nominee Blake Masters – because he wanted to see Republican majorities on Capitol Hill. 

He also equated Trump’s lies about election fraud in 2020 to Hillary Clinton in 2016. 

“I think there’s been far too much questioning of elections, not just in 2020 but in 2016, where Hillary Clinton said that the election was stolen, said that Donald Trump was not a legitimate president, for years,” Pence said.

Watch the moment:

Former Vice President Mike Pence said he was angry with former President Donald Trump in the days following the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol.

"I must tell you the president's words and tweet that day were reckless. They endangered my family and all the people at the Capitol," Pence said during a CNN town hall Wednesday after watching video of secret service trying to get him and his wife out of the building during the riot.

Pence said he was "angry," but in the days that followed, he leaned on his faith, specifically pointing to the moment when he met with the former president.

"But I truly do believe that we live in a time when the American people ought to be searching their hearts and having more grace toward one another," Pence added.

The former vice president said he believes Trump was "remorseful" and "saddened" about what happened, saying, "I know that's at odds with people's public perception about him, but I want to tell you it was true."

Watch the moment:

During tonight's CNN town hall, Jake Tapper played footage of rioters at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 chanting “hang Mike Pence," and asked former Vice President Mike Pence to reflect on what he felt in those moments. Pence first said it saddened him to see those images, adding “that day it angered me.”

He noted that he told Secret Service that he would not leave the Capitol and was determined to stay at his post, in part because he did not want to give those rioters the sight of his motorcade speeding away that day.

“The President had decided in that moment to be a part of the problem,” Pence said. He added he “was determined to be part of the solution. And so we essentially set that aside.”

He said he gathered the Republican and Democratic leadership of the House and Senate on a conference call, reached out to leadership at the Pentagon and the Justice Department “to surge additional resources” to assist Capitol Hill police officers. Ultimately, he noted they were able to reconvene Congress on the same day.

“We demonstrated to the American people and the world the strength of our institutions, the resilience of our democracy, but those memories, those images will always be with me,” Pence said.

Watch the moment: