Election round-up: flipped districts, a GOP Senate, and a Democratic House
by Benjamin Katz ’20, News Editor
Millions of Americans turned out to vote for the midterm elections on Tuesday, Nov. 6.
The Republican Party expanded their majority in the U.S. Senate, defeating Democratic incumbents in North Dakota, Indiana and Missouri, while the Democratic Party flipped Nevada, defeating incumbent Dean Heller (R). At press time, two races remain too close to call in the states of Montana and Arizona, though the incumbent Jon Tester (D) is expected to prevail in the former and Martha McSally (R) is expected to keep former Senator Jeff Flake’s seat in Republican hands in Arizona.
Considering that the recently re-elected Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Angus King (I-ME) caucus with the Democrats, the Senate is projected to have a 53–46 balance in favor of the Republicans.
Local Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (R) of New York’s 22nd Congressional District was defeated by challenger Anthony Brindisi (D), a State Assemblyman and attorney. While the Tenney campaign has yet to concede due to outstanding absentee ballots, at press time, several national news organizations, including The Hill and NBC have called the race in Brindisi’s favor. Brindisi’s victory comes amid other high-profile Democratic victories in races for House seats, which gives them control of the chamber. Key Democratic flips include the New York 11th and 19th, Virginia 10th, Arizona 2nd, New Jersey 7th and South Carolina 1st. Democrats now control 222 seats to the Republicans’ 196 seats, with 7 races still too close to call. The next question for the Democrats in the House is who to elect as speaker. Former speaker and current minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D — CA) is considered to be the frontrunner.
In gubernatorial elections, Democrats picked up 7 governor seats without losing any. In Wisconsin, Democratic challenger Tony Evers defeated incumbent and former Presidential contender Scott Walker. In Colorado, Democrat Jared Polis was elected the first openly gay male governor of an American state, while Democrat Andrew McGillum’s bid to become Florida’s first black governor came up short, with Ron DeSantis (R) winning a contentious race. In Georgia, a hard-fought race between Stacey Abrams (D) and Brian Kemp (R) is still too close to call, though Kemp is currently up nearly 65,000 votes. And in Kansas, Laura Kelly (D) defeated Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach in an election that is being seen as a rebuke to the austerity policies of former Kansas Governor Sam Brownback (R).
In local and statewide races in New York, Democrats largely prevailed. Letitia James (D) was elected as New York State’s first black Attorney General by over 1.4 million votes. Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) was elected to a third term after defeating Dutchess County executive Marc Molinaro. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli (D) was re-elected for a third term. New York City voters overwhelming passed three ballot initiatives concerning campaign finance, civic engagement, and term limits of community board members.
