Trump wins in Arizona as Republicans come closer to holding House

Donald Trump was declared the winner in Arizona yesterday, completing the Republican president-elect's clean sweep of the so-called swing states as his party inched closer to retaining the House of Representatives when the last races are resolved.

- Edward Helmore

The GOP had 213 seats in the House by yesterday, a gain of two, with the Democrats on 202 and 20 still to be called. Many of the remaining races favor the Republicans, with a total of 218 needed for a majority.

Trump's party had already regained the upper house of Congress, the Senate, in last week's election, with 53 seats to 46 for the Democrats.

With a rightwing 6-3 majority in the supreme court, Trump now seems likely to have control over all major branches of US government, for the next two years at least.

Trump is due to meet with Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday, a formality he skipped in 2020 when the roles were reversed and he was contesting the results.

The outgoing president and the president-elect will meet in the Oval Office at Biden's request, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said. Last week, Biden said he would "direct my entire administration to work with his team to ensure a peaceful and orderly transition".

But Trump has yet to submit a series of transition agreements with the Biden administration, according to CNN, that will unlock briefings from the outgoing administration before the power handover in 72 days.