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I feel that there should be a dedicated thread for the Congress Elections this year, rather than clog up the general USA thread.
With four weeks to go until US voters go to the polls, all 435 House of Representatives seats and 34 Senate seats are up for grabs. The Republicans hold a 247-188 majority in the former, and a 54-46 majority (Bernie Sanders and Angus King often caucus with the Democrats anyway) in the latter.
Of the 34 Senate seats to be voted on, 24 are Republican incumbents, and 10 are Democrat incumbents. 2 Republicans and 3 Democrats will be retiring - Dan Coats (R-Indiana), David Vitter (R-Louisiana), Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland). Of the 34, 16 were elected in the last 6 years, all but 2 were Republicans, capitalising on the "Tea Party" movement of 2010.
43 Representatives are not running for re-election, and they're listed here, 18 of them are Democrats and 25 are Republicans. A further 2 Democrats and 3 Republicans have since lost their party primary to defend their seats.
The Senate elections are seen as more important than the House of Representatives elections, due to the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and three more Supreme Court Justices are set to retire in the next four years; Ginsburg (D), Kennedy (R) and Breyer (D), as the Senate has the power to approve or deny Supreme Court appointees. According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President," and as a result have blocked any attempt by Obama to fill Scalia's seat.
The House of Representatives is unlikely (as of typing this) to return to Democrat control, but the Senate is a different story, with FiveThirtyEight giving a 54.8% chance that the Republicans will lose control of it.
With four weeks to go until US voters go to the polls, all 435 House of Representatives seats and 34 Senate seats are up for grabs. The Republicans hold a 247-188 majority in the former, and a 54-46 majority (Bernie Sanders and Angus King often caucus with the Democrats anyway) in the latter.
Of the 34 Senate seats to be voted on, 24 are Republican incumbents, and 10 are Democrat incumbents. 2 Republicans and 3 Democrats will be retiring - Dan Coats (R-Indiana), David Vitter (R-Louisiana), Harry Reid (D-Nevada), Barbara Boxer (D-California) and Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland). Of the 34, 16 were elected in the last 6 years, all but 2 were Republicans, capitalising on the "Tea Party" movement of 2010.
43 Representatives are not running for re-election, and they're listed here, 18 of them are Democrats and 25 are Republicans. A further 2 Democrats and 3 Republicans have since lost their party primary to defend their seats.
The Senate elections are seen as more important than the House of Representatives elections, due to the death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, and three more Supreme Court Justices are set to retire in the next four years; Ginsburg (D), Kennedy (R) and Breyer (D), as the Senate has the power to approve or deny Supreme Court appointees. According to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President," and as a result have blocked any attempt by Obama to fill Scalia's seat.
The House of Representatives is unlikely (as of typing this) to return to Democrat control, but the Senate is a different story, with FiveThirtyEight giving a 54.8% chance that the Republicans will lose control of it.
