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Category: 116th Congress

Fun Facts from the Election

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Here are some fun factoids, that we know of, from last night’s election: 

  • Three African-American candidates — Antonio Delgado (D-NY), Colin Allred (D-TX), and Lauren Underwood (D-IL) — defeated Republican incumbents in majority-white districts.
  • Texas elected two Latina women, Sylvia Garcia (D-TX) and Veronica Escobar (D-TX), who are the first Latina congresswomen in the state. Tennessee elected a female Senator, Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), for the first time.
  • Two native American women were elected to Congress for the first time.  Sharice Davids (D-KS) is also the state’s first openly gay representative and the first former mixed-martial-arts fighter. Deb Haaland (D-NM), member of the Pueblo of Laguna, defeated Republican Janice Arnold-Jones.
  • Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) became the first-ever Muslim woman elected to the U.S. Congress. She ran unopposed by a Republican challenger and she won her primary in August, beating out five other challengers. She is joined by Ilhan Omar (D-MN).
  • Jared Polis in Colorado was elected the first openly gay governor in U.S. history.
  • Amendment 4 passed in Florida restoring voting rights to 1.5 million felons.
  • Marijuana won big. Michigan voted to legalize recreational pot use, Missouri voters legalized medical marijuana, with a tax, while North Dakota voters decided not to legalize recreational marijuana.
  • Voters in Arkansas and Missouri raised the minimum wage. In Missouri, the wage will rise to $11 from $8.50; Arkansas’s will increase to $12 from $7.85.
  • Health care access did well in conservative states. Voters in Idaho and Nebraska passed the Medicaid expansions, bringing tens of thousands of additional adults under Medicaid coverage. Votes are still being counted for initiatives in Montana and Utah. Montana’s measure would raise tobacco taxes to pay for, and continue, a Medicaid expansion that might otherwise expire. Utah’s proposal included a sales tax increase to help fund the expansion.

Results…and Still Counting

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There are still many races that are still too close to call this morning, which was expected. It happened in 2012, 2014 and 2016. It’s happened twice already this year.

That said, many races have been called. The Democrats have 220 seats, exactly two more seats than needed for a majority and a gain of 27 seats, while Republicans have 193. There are currently just over 30 House seats yet to be called; if the current leader in all of them ends up winning, the House will be 227 Democrats, 208 Republicans. House Democrats gained in states like New York, California, Kansas, Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Oklahoma.

The Republican majority in the Senate got stronger with wins in Indiana, Florida, and Missouri. In the Senate there are still two races outstanding in Montana and Arizona, while Mississippi is going to have a runoff. Republicans lead in both those races; if the current leader ends up winning, the Senate will have 46 Democrats, 54 Republicans. Democrats were always looking at a challenging year as they were defending more seats and many in conservative states.

Democrats made significant pickups across the nation at the Governor’s office gaining seats in Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada, Kansas, and Maine. If they current leader ends up winning, there will be 23 Democratic and 27 Republican governors.

In some contentious races, like in Georgia and Mississippi, there is a possibility that no candidate will receive a majority of votes, kicking in special rules to decide the election at a later date. Although currently Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp is running just barely above the total needed for a recount. Mississippi looks likely to head to a runoff.  Florida has also triggered an automatic recount between Senate candidates Sen. Ben Nelson (D) and Gov. Rick Scott (R).

In Washington state, Rep. Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA-05) defeated challenger Lisa Brown in a hotly contested race. Technically, two races are still outstanding this morning, but Rep. Jaime Herrera Beulter (R-WA-03) is expected to be re-elected and Dr. Kim Schier (D) is expected to be declared the winner over Dino Rossi to represent WA-08 in an open contest. Otherwise, the current Washington delegation was handily elected.

It’s Election Day!

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Happy Election Day!

In a much hyped and talked about mid-term election, Americans are going to the polls for some exciting local and national races. Will the Democrats win the House? How many new Members of Congress will Washington state have? Will the Republicans gain seats in the Senate? Will most of our nation’s governors be in the Democratic party? We will start to find out tonight. However, given the peculiarities and peccadilloes of each state’s elections laws, we might not know who has won many elections for weeks.

Washington state has some very interesting races being watched on the national stage, and with Congressman Reichert’s retirement, we will have at least one new Member of Congress representing WA-08. Track the results for all Washington races here.

For national races, the New York Times will has it’s very popular Needle on their home page tracking election results again this year.  CNN will also have live updates. The Washington Post also has a fun tracker. Do not expect poll returns until later in the day. The Times has a story on when polls close.

For those of you that have been intensely interested in this election (Beto! Stacey Abrams! Dino Rossi!)  just keep in mind, the forecasts and models were very wrong last year.  It’s raining in every state east of the Mississippi River, and that’s sure to impact turnout.

For those intensely interested in what’s happening across the country at every level, here’s a handy-dandy election tracker that has all high-target political races this election.

 

Federal Relations will update this post as necessary throughout the day and have an election recap tomorrow.