Going into election night, Republicans were confident they could pick up at least five seats in the House of Representatives nationally, which would put them in the majority.

While a final determination is still in play, U.S. Rep. Joe Sempolinski notes that should that happen, New York will be a significant reason why.

“If you look at New York state, there’s a possibility we’re going to have seven freshmen (congressional) members — Republican freshmen members — from the state, plus all four Republican incumbents who were running were re-elected,” he said.

Sempolinski, a Republican from Stuben County, shared his thoughts late Wednesday morning during his weekly phone conference.

Going into the election, New York had eight Republican congressional representatives. Sempolinski noted that some believed when the first congressional maps came out that Republicans would only retain four seats statewide. Those maps were eventually tossed by the courts and redrawn.

“So, if we look at it, we’re going from eight to four and then potentially we’re going from eight to 11, that’s a pretty big swing,” he said. “You could argue that the majority in the House of Representatives was made in New York state.”

Even though Republican challenger Lee Zeldin failed in his bid to become governor, Sempolinski credits him for the House’s growth in New York. “It was the closest race for governor we’ve had in a very long time and he brought with him a bunch of House seats that look like at this point, determined the majority,” he said.

Sempolinski’s district is being broken up into three congressional districts starting Jan. 1. Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties will stay with the 23rd District, where Nick Langworthy is the congressman-elect. He is representing six counties of the current district. Rep. Claudia Tenney will be representing three counties of the current district and Marc Molinaro will be representing two of the counties in the current 23rd district.

All three are Republicans.

Tenney is an incumbent while Langworthy and Molinaro will be new to Congress.

“These are all people I have a great relationship with,” Sempolinski said. “They’re all people that I’ve known for years. They’re all people I have a good line of communication with and they’re all people that we’ve been discussing constituent issues.”

Starting Jan. 1, New York state will have 26 congressional seats. Early results show Democrats winning 14 seats statewide, Republicans winning 10, and two were too close to call.