Republicans dominate 2016 Congressional Elections
Kristen Davis ’17
Across the country, citizens cast their ballots for democratic and republican candidates during the United States Congressional Elections November 8. The election results dictated that the one hundred and fifteenth United States Congress, consisting of the House of Representatives and Senate, will maintain a Republican majority in both houses.
Prior to November 8, Republicans controlled the Senate 54 to 44 and the House of Representatives 246 to 188. In the Senate, 34 out of the 100 seats were available in the election. In the House of Representatives, 435 spots from congressional districts across each of the 50 states were up for election, according to ballotpedia.org.
There were nine Senate swing states, including Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. These Senate battleground states determined the majority party within the Senate. In contrast, there were 23 House of Representative swing states. Even if the Democratic party had won each swing state for both the House and Representatives and the Senate, they would not have composed a majority of Congress, according to ballotpedia.org.
The Republicans won six out of the nine swing states to win the majority in the Senate. They will retain control in the Senate 51 to 48, though three seats were lost to the Democrats. Connecticut voters re-elected Democrat Mr. Richard Blumenthal against Republican Mr. Dan Carter to represent them in the United States Senate.
In the House of Representatives, Republicans now outweigh the Democrats 239 to 192. Voters re-elected Mr. Jim Himes as Connecticut’s Fourth District Congressman against Republican Mr. John Shaban.
The 2016 congressional election also produced historic results. Nevada voters elected Ms. Catherine Cortez Masto, the former Nevada state Attorney General, as the first Latina United States Senator, according to bbc.com. Director of Policy at Women Organizing Women Network Ms. Ilhan Omar became the United States’ first Somali-American congresswoman with a victory in Minnesota, according to bbc.com. In addition, California’s Attorney General Ms. Kamala Harris became the second African-American female Senator in United States history, according to nbcnews.com.
Speaker of the House Mr. Paul Ryan expressed his hope that Republican dominance in the Legislative and Executive Branch will enable both the President and Congress to turn policy plans into laws.
“We are eager to work hand-in-hand with the new administration to advance an agenda to improve the lives of the American people,” Mr. Ryan said in a press conference Wednesday, November 9 in Wisconsin, according to abcnews.go.com.
– Kristen Davis, Content Editor
