Approval of the Congress generally remains in the tank although it has improved since the first of the year.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
| Real Clear Politics 11/20 | 20.4% | 68.6% |
| Real Clear Politics 11/13 | 19.9% | 69.3% |
| Real Clear Politics 10/16 | 19.6% | 71.4% |
| Real Clear Politics 9/5 | 18.4% | 71.6% |
| Real Clear Politics 8/4 | 14.8% | 73.5% |
| Real Clear Politics 7/5 | 15.7% | 72% |
| Real Clear Politics 6/5 | 16.6% | 70.6% |
| Real Clear Politics 5/1 | 16.6% | 72.6% |
| Real Clear Politics 4/2 | 13.6% | 75% |
| Real Clear Politics 3/2 | 15.8% | 72.6% |
| Real Clear Politics 2/4 | 16.2% | 73.9% |
| Real Clear Politics 1/4/18 | 15.8% | 72.6% |
The U.S. House of Representatives has 435 members, a figure that has been fixed since 1920. This is in spite of an enormous expansion in the size of the country: initially the founders of the country wanted 30,000 people per representative, but today that ratio is almost 750,000 people per representative. The number of seats in a legislature is — in wealthy democracies — typically pretty close to the cube root of the population. In the US, that would put us at a legislature with 593 seats. Such an expansion would keep the general count of safe seats for each party in the same ball park, but would expand the middle considerably …” The Editorial Board, The New York Times
[And where would they put the new seats in the U.S. House Representatives chamber? WW]
The House of Representatives: 2019
- Democrats 234 or 235
- Republicans 201 or 200
Democrats received 59,525, 244 (53.2% of the popular vote)
Republicans received 50,516,570 (45.1% of the popular vote)
According to David Wasserman of the Cook Political Report this was the largest gap between the two parties in the history of midterms.
The 2018 election included the youngest women ever first elected to the House of Representatives and the oldest woman ever first elected to the House of Representatives.
Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, of New York’s 14th district is the youngest woman ever to be elected to the House of Representatives. She will be 29 years old when she is sworn in.
Ocasio-Cortez won by winning the Democratic primary against a 20-year House veteran Joe Crowley, Chairman of the Democratic Caucus in the House.
Casio-Cortez was endorsed by progressive and civil rights organizations such as MoveOn, Justice Democrats, Brand New Congress, Black Lives Matter, and Democracy for America.
Crowley was endorsed by Governor Cuomo, U.S. Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, 11 U.S. Representatives, 31 local elected officials, 31 trade unions, and progressive groups such as the Sierra Club, Planned Parenthood, the Working Families Party, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, among others.
There were roughly 236,000 registered democrats in the 14th district. The results of the election – Ocasio-Cortez 15,897 votes; Crowley 11,761 votes, a turnout of 11.8% of the democrats.
Donna Shalala, of Florida’s 27th district, is the oldest woman ever elected to the House of Representatives. She will be 77 years old when she is sworn in.
Shalala won an open seat following the retirement of Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen who retired after 30 years in office.
Shalala had a heck of a career before deciding to run for Congress.
1977 – Became the Assistant Secretary of Policy Development and Research of HUD
1980 – President of Hunter College
1988 – Chancellor of University of Wisconsin – Madison
1993 – Secretary of Health and Human Services
2001 – President of the University of Miami – thru 2015
Apparently wanting to get an early start on “relations” with her soon to be colleagues, “Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has urged other progressives to mount primary challenges against some conservative Democratic members of Congress.” [HuffPost]
The Senate
[WW is using Jennifer E. Duffy and the Cook Political Report for the Senate chart below. 11/15/18]
In 2020 the Republicans will be defending 22 seats while the Democrats will be defending 12 seats.
- Republicans 53
- Democrats 45
- Independents 2
| Democrats | Republicans | |
| Seats not up in 2020 | 23 | 31 |
| Safe in 2020 | 10 Coons Durbin Markey Peters Shaheen Booker Udall Merkley Reed Warner |
16 Sullivan Cotton Risch Ernst Roberts Cassidy Hyde-Smith Daines Sasse Inhofe Graham Rounds Alexander Cornyn Moore Capito Enzi |
| Likely | 1 Smith |
3 Perdue McConnell Tillis |
| Lean | 1 Jones |
3 AZ TBD Gardner Collins |