Incumbents Defeated In General Elections
Two-hundred and twenty seven incumbent state legislators lost re-election in general elections on . This represents 4.7% of all state legislative incumbents who ran in general elections.
- 165 Democrats
- 52 Republicans
- 10 Independent/third party
This was the fewest number of state legislators defeated since 2010. It marked a 29.5% decrease from the 322 defeated in 2018 and was 54.8% lower than the decade-high 502 incumbents defeated in the 2010 general election. Since 2010, an average of 307 incumbents have been defeated in even-year general elections.
| Incumbents defeated in general elections, 2020 |
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Senators Committees And Other Legislative Groups
The Senates 63 members represent districts from across New York State. Senators belong to a single conference and one or more political parties.
Weve made it easy to filter senators by party, committee, and the other legislative groups in which they gather to consider the merits of proposed legislation and to better understand complex legislative issues.
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Senator has new policy idea
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Idea is drafted into a Bill
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Bill undergoes committee process
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Senate and Assembly pass bill
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Bill is signed by Governor
Membership Qualifications And Apportionment
Under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution, seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states by population, as determined by the census conducted every ten years. Each state is entitled to at least one representative, however small its population.
The only constitutional rule relating to the size of the House states: âThe Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative.â Congress regularly increased the size of the House to account for population growth until it fixed the number of voting House members at 435 in 1911. In 1959, upon the admission of Alaska and Hawaii, the number was temporarily increased to 437 , and returned to 435 four years later, after the reapportionment consequent to the 1960 census.
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Us Republicans Grow More Diverse In Newly Won House Seats
Women and minorities predominate among Republican winners in 2020 House elections that trimmed Democratic control.
Republicans cut the Democratic Partys margin of majority control in half in the United States House of Representatives in the November 3 election and did it with a diverse field of women and minority candidates.
While Democrats remain in charge, Republicans have secured 207 seats in the House, up from 201 prior to the election. They will likely gain yet more as votes are still being counted in six races.
All 11 Republicans who beat incumbent Democrats so far are women or minorities. That is not the norm for a Republican Party that has long been mostly represented by white males.
As many as half of the incoming Republican freshmen class of about 40 new members will be women or minorities. They will likely double the number of women Republicans from 15 presently.
It will be the most diverse class we have ever had, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said at a news conference.
Many have already dubbed this year, the year of the Republican woman. And it couldnt be truer from that statement. We are poised to have 29 House Republican women join our ranks, surpassing the previous record, McCarthy told reporters.
Every Democrat incumbent who lost, either lost to a woman, minority, or a veteran Republican, he said.
Here is a look at Republican women and minority winners called by The Associated Press so far:
Senate And House Elections 2020: Full Results For Congress
As well as electing the US president, the country has been voting for senators and members of the House of Representatives. Here are full results from all 50 states
Mon 9 Nov 2020 09.44;GMT Last modified on Tue 15 Dec 2020 14.28;GMT
Mon 9 Nov 2020 09.44;GMT Last modified on Tue 15 Dec 2020 14.28;GMT
The US legislature, Congress, has two chambers. The lower chamber, the House of Representatives, has 435 voting seats, each representing a district of roughly similar size. There are elections in each of these seats every two years.
The upper chamber, the Senate, has 100 members, who sit for six-year terms. One-third of the seats come up for election in each two-year cycle. Each state has two senators, regardless of its population; this means that Wyoming, with a population of less than 600,000, carries the same weight as California, with almost 40 million.
Most legislation needs to pass both chambers to become law, but the Senate has some important other functions, notably approving senior presidential appointments, for instance to the supreme court.
In most states, the candidate with the most votes on election day wins the seat. However, Georgia and Louisiana require the winning candidate to garner 50% of votes cast; if no one does, they hold a run-off election between the top two candidates.
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Election Analysis And Context
All 435 seatsincluding seven vacancieswere up for election, with Democrats needing to add 23 seats to win majority control of the chamber.
The Democratic Party was well-positioned to gain seats, according to a 100-year historical analysis of House elections conducted by Ballotpedia and political scientist Jacob Smith. From 1918 to 2016, the presidents party lost an average of 29 seats in midterm elections. The Democrats matched this pattern in the 2018 midterms, gaining 40 seats for a total of 235 seats17 more than was needed for a majority.
One undecided 2018 race was decided in September 2019 when Dan Bishop won the special election. The state board of elections called a new election following allegations of absentee ballot fraud in the 2018 race. for more information on the aftermath of the 2018 election.
In 372 of the 435 seats, an incumbent was seeking re-election on November 6. There were 52 seats where the incumbent was either retiring or otherwise not seeking re-election18 Democrats and 34 Republicans, including House Speaker Paul Ryan and seven vacant seats. In four other seats, the incumbenttwo from each partywas defeated in a primary before election day.
There were 46 seats that changed party hands, both open seats and those occupied by an incumbent, and 30 of the 372 incumbent U.S. representatives lost their seats in the general electionall Republicans.
Historical Overview Of Incumbent Losses
Overall
During the 2020 election cycle, 381 incumbents lost re-election, 154 in primaries and 227 in general elections. Compared to previous election cycles since 2010, the overall defeat of 381 incumbents was the second-lowest behind the 2016 elections, when 356 incumbents lost in both primaries and general elections.
The defeat of 227 incumbents in general elections was the lowest number in the past decade. The number defeated in 2020 represented a 29.5% decrease from the 322 defeated in 2018 and was 54.8% lower than the decade-high 502 incumbents defeated in the 2010 general election.
The defeat of 154 incumbent in primaries was the second-highest, exceeded only by the 2012 elections, when 194 incumbents lost to primary challengers.
Over the past decade, an average of 127 incumbents lost in primaries and 307 lost in general elections. With both combined, an overall average of 451 incumbents lost in each election cycle.
The graph below shows a comparison between incumbent losses from 2010 to 2020 broken down by the type of defeat.
Partisan analysis
Between 2010 and 2020, there were three even-year cycles when more Democratic incumbents lost re-election than Republicans, and three cycles where more Republican incumbents lost re-election than Democrats.
In primaries, Republican incumbents have been defeated at higher numbers than Democratic incumbents in the previous five election cycles. In 2010, both parties saw 56 incumbents defeated in primaries.
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Numerous Freshman Democrats Lost Reelection
The vulnerable first-term Democrats who Decision Desk HQ projects to lose reelection are Reps. TJ Cox, Gil Cisneros, and Harley Rouda of California, Reps. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Donna Shalala of Florida, Rep. Abby Finkenauer of Iowa, Rep. Xochitl Torres Small of New Mexico, Rep. Max Rose of New York, Rep. Kendra Horn of Oklahoma, Rep. Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, and Rep. Ben McAdams of Utah.;
Rep. Collin Peterson, a long-serving Democratic representative in a Minnesota district that Trump won by 30 points, also lost reelection.
Some House Democrats who flipped Republican suburban and exurban seats in 2018 did win reelection, however, including Rep. Lucy McBath of Georgia, Rep. Katie Porter of California, Reps. Elaine Luria, Abigail Spanberger, and Jennifer Wexton of Virginia, and Rep. Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey.
Results Summary And Analysis
The Democratic Party won control of the House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections. The Democrats gained a net total of 41 seats from the total number of seats they had won in the 2016 elections. This was their largest gain of House seats in an election since the 1974 elections, when the Democrats gained 49 House seats. Democrats won the popular vote by more than 9.7Â;million votes or 8.6%, the largest midterm margin for any party and the largest margin on record for a minority party.
According to the Associated Press‘ statistical analysis, gerrymandering cost the Democrats an additional sixteen House seats from Republicans.
Voter turnout in this election was 50.3%, the highest turnout in a U.S. midterm election since 1914.
Note that the results summary does not include blank and over/under votes which were included in the official results or votes cast in the voided election in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district.
â| Source: Election Statistics â Office of the Clerk |
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United States House Of Representatives Elections 2016
Elections to the U.S. House were held on . All 435 seats were up for election. Additionally, there were three special elections to fill the final two months of vacancies that were created during the 114th United States Congress.
Despite losing several seats in the chamber, the Republican Party had a strong night in the House. Republicans preserved their majority and only lost a net six seats, resulting in a 241-194 majority. It was never likely that Democrats would retake the chamber; however, double-digit gains in the House were predicted.
HIGHLIGHTS
An Incoming Class Of History
Several of the newly elected state representatives are making history.;
The Republican Madison Cawthorn, 25, who beat the Democrat Moe Davis to represent North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District, will become the youngest member of Congress in modern history.
The Democrat Cori Bush is set to become the first Black congresswoman from Missouri after winning in the state’s 1st Congressional District.
The Democrats Mondaire Jones and Ritchie Torres will also be the first openly gay Black men to serve in Congress, after winning in New York’s 17th and 15th districts respectively.
And nine out of the eleven Republicans who have so far unseated incumbent Democrats are women wins that will drastically expand the representation of women and especially of women of color in the House Republican caucus.
Currently, there are just 13 voting female Republican representatives in the House and 11 female Republican incumbents who ran for reelection in 2020.
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Impact Of Special Elections On Partisan Composition
The partisan breakdown for the special elections was as follows:
In districts where the incumbent legislator does not run for re-election, the seat is guaranteed to a newcomer.
- 85.1% of incumbents sought re-election, the highest percentage in a decade.
- 14.9% of incumbents did not run for re-election, meaning newcomers were guaranteed to win those seats.
- 394 Democratic state legislators did not seek re-election.
- 477 Republican state legislators did not seek re-election.
- Six third party or independent state legislators did not seek re-election.
Click on the table header below for complete, state-by-state information on open seats and guaranteed newcomers.
| Open state legislative seats, 2020 |
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| State |
As the charts below show, there were 1,135 fewer primary candidates in 2020 than in 2018, reaching levels similar to 2016 and 2014. 2020 saw the lowest number of open seats, meaning more incumbents seeking re-election, compared to the previous three even-year elections. The number of incumbents facing primaries was roughly similar to 2016 and 2014, but less than 2018. There were fewer total primaries in 2020 compared to 2018 and 2016, but more than there were in 2014.
To read more about the competitiveness of state legislative primary elections in 2020, .
Election Results 2020: Veto
- See also: State government trifectas
Two state legislatures saw changes in their veto-proof majority statusâtypically when one party controls either three-fifths or two-thirds of both chambersâas a result of the 2020 elections. Democrats gained veto-proof majorities in Delaware and New York, bringing the number of state legislatures with a veto-proof majority in both chambers to 24: 16 held by Republicans and eight held by Democrats.
Forty-four states held regularly-scheduled state legislative elections on November 3. Heading into the election, there were 22 state legislatures where one party had a veto-proof majority in both chambers; 16 held by Republicans and six held by Democrats. Twenty of those states held legislative elections in 2020.
The veto override power can play a role in conflicts between state legislatures and governors. Conflict can occur when legislatures vote to override gubernatorial vetoes or in court cases related to vetoes and the override power.
Although it has the potential to create conflict, the veto override power is rarely used. According to political scientists Peverill Squire and Gary Moncrief in 2010, only about five percent of vetoes are overridden.
| Changes in state legislative veto-proof majorites | |
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| State | |
| Democratic veto-proof majority in state House | Democratic veto-proof majority in state legislature |
| Democratic veto-proof majority in state Assembly | Democratic veto-proof majority in state legislature |
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Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee Plans First Public Hearing Of Election Investigation
The Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee plans to hold the first public hearing of its investigation into the 2020 General Election and the 2021 Primary Election on Thursday, September 9, at the Capitol Building in Harrisburg, according to Committee Chairman Senator Cris Dush . ;
The Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee has created a special webpage for Pennsylvania residents to submit sworn testimony regarding problems they have personally experienced with the states election system, according to Committee Chair Senator Cris Dush . ;
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Republicans Won More House Seats Than More Popular Democrats Though Not Entirely Because Of How Districts Were Drawn
The Democratic member of Congress from Austin, otherwise represented in Washington, D.C. by Republicans, says Democrats nationally got more votes in 2012 yet Republicans ended up with their House majority.
“During the last election, Democrats won over a million votes more than Republicans,” Rep. Lloyd Doggett said in a Nov. 4, 2013, talk at the University of Texas at San Antonio. “But because of the way” House “districts are designed, the Republicans got 33 more members of the House of Representatives than the Democrats did.”
The first part of his claim sounded familiar, but is it right that this outcome arose from the way House districts were designed?
In every state, districts must be redrawn every 10 years to adjust for population changes as measured by the decennial U.S. census. Each state has its own method for drawing districts. And Texas, like most states, entrusts most of the line-drawing to state legislators.
Over the past dozen years or so, Doggett pointed out in his talk, he has represented a variety of communities–at one time holding a district that stretched from the Texas-Mexico border north into Austin–largely due to how districts were drawn by the states dominant Republicans.
Nationally, he said, the redistricting process “has had a significant impact on more than me and indeed on the whole framing of the national debate that is going on right now.” His lecture later touched on the influence of money in politics.
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Republicans Take More Than 60 House Seats Cnn Projects
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: The GOP picks up more than 60 seats, CNN projects
- Republicans gain a majority in the House
- About 100 of 435 House seats were competitive
- Pelosi urges “common ground”
Watch CNN live on TV, online and on your iPhone tonight from 7 p.m. ET to get all the news and results from the hotly contested 2010 midterm elections. And share your election experiences with CNN iReport.
— There is a new speaker in town.
Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, will be the new Speaker of the House, replacing Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-California, as the GOP rolled in Tuesday’s midterm elections, gaining a majority for the first time in four years.
The Republican Party will pick up more than 60 seats in the legislature, a statistical analysis of exit polls by CNN projects. That’s a comfortable margin over the 39 seats needed to wrest control from the Democrats.
Unrest over the economy and government spending, as well as the surge of Tea Party politics, helped propel the GOP. Tuesday’s outcome was comparable to the 1994 so-called “Republican Revolution,” when the GOP took 54 seats from the Democrats.
It is also the largest number of House pickups since Democrats picked up 75 seats in 1948.
As of 2 a.m. ET Wednesday, the Republicans held 231 seats to the Democrats’ 169. At least 218 seats are needed for a majority.
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The election was a repudiation of big government and politicians who refuse to listen to their constituents, he said.
