So far Republicans have won 213 races, compared to 203 for Democrats, according to calls made by The Associated Press. It takes 218 seats to win a majority in the House. Of the 19 races that are still too close to call, Republicans were ahead in 10 and Democrats in 9.

Nakamura assuming the speaker position did not come as a surprise. Moments after former Speaker Scott Saiki lost his seat in the August primary to Kim Coco Iwamoto, House members were talking about Nakamura as the next speaker.

While the country was following last week's presidential election, Republicans regained control of the Michigan House of Representatives, ending Democrats' two-year dominance of power in Lansing. (Nov.