The 116th Congress, opening on January 3, 2019, will have exactly 100 new members, an all time high turnover.
It will contain 235 Democrats and 200 Republicans in the House of Representatives, a gain of 40 seats by the Democrats, the most massive turnover since the Midterm Elections of 1974, after Richard Nixon had resigned that August due to the Watergate Scandal.
The Senate will be 53 Republicans to 45 Democrats and 2 Independents (Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont), an increase of two seats for the Republicans.
It is much more “Blue” or Democratic and younger and more diverse in every way, a true “Blue Wave”.
The average age of the newcomers is age 49.
63 of the new members are Democrats, and 37 are Republicans, with the Democrats having 60 new House members and 3 Senators, while the Republicans have 31 new House members and 6 Senators.
So there are 91 new House members and 9 new Senators, making a turnover of about 20 percent of the House and 9 percent of the Senate in membership.
40 of the new 100 members of Congress are women, 36 in the House and 4 in the Senate.
60 of the new members are men, 55 in the House and 5 in the Senate.
24 of the new House members are Hispanic, Native American and people of color, but all of the newly elected Senators are white.
History Makers include: Marsha Blackburn (R) of Tennessee, the first woman elected to Congress from her state; two Native American women elected to the House from Kansas and New Mexico; the Kansas Congresswoman being the first openly gay person elected to Congress from Kansas; first two Latina women elected to Congress from Texas; first Muslim women elected to Congress from Michigan and Minnesota; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York the youngest elected Congresswoman ever in Congress; the first black Congresswoman ever elected from Massachusetts and Connecticut; and Kyrsten Sinema the first woman elected to the Senate from Arizona, and also first openly bisexual member of the Senate.
We also have older new members in their 70s, Mitt Romney in the Senate at 71, and Donna Shalala of Florida in the House at 77.
The new Congressional group is highly educated, with 70 percent having gone to graduate school; one third having law degrees; 12 having MBAs; seven members having at least two graduate degrees; and Kyrsten Sinema having four graduate degrees.
19 members have served in the military, including 6 in the Army, 11 in the Navy, and 2 in the Air Force.
4 of the newcomers are professional athletes in their past, including 2 NFL football players, 1 professional hockey player, and 1 mixed martial arts fighter.
Also, there are 3 doctors, one dentist, 1 nurse, and 5 educators in the group of 100 new members of Congress.
The average age of members of Congress remains about the same as it has been, 58.5 years.
The total number of women in Congress are 124, an all time high, including 100 in the House and 24 in the Senate.
Finally, 21 percent of the Congress is Hispanic, Native American, and people of color.
Hopefully, the “Blue Wave” of 2018 will lead to a Democratic Senate and Democratic President in the Presidential Election of 2020.
Nancy Pelosi nominated 203-32 to be House Speaker.
http://bluevirginia.us/2018/11/nancy-pelosi-nominated-203-32-to-be-house-speaker-we-are-fortunate-to-have-such-a-talented-and-able-woman-as-our-leader
Why Impeachment Will Be A Must, And A Political Winner, Regardless Of The Senate
http://bluevirginia.us/2018/11/why-impeachment-will-be-a-must-and-a-political-winner-regardless-of-the-senate
UPDATE 11.30.2018 @ 06:00 a.m. ET: “Wikipedia†[ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2018_United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections ] has it the 2018 Democrats won the U.S. Popular Vote, for the U.S. House, by +8.35 percentage points. It was 53.31 percent for the Democrats; 44.96 percent for the Republicans.
This is not to say, necessarily, these are the final numbers. But, going by that latest, what this means is the 2016-to-2018 national shift was Democratic +9.43. (The 2016 Republicans won the U.S. Popular Vote by +1.08. It was Republican 49.11 percent; Democratic 48.03 percent.) With a net gain of +40 seats, the 2018 Democrats won an average of +4.24 seats with each percentage point nationally shifted in their direction.
From the previous midterm elections—in which the U.S. House flipped to the White House opposition party (which occurred in 1946, 1954, 1994, 2006, and 2010)—the historical average over those five cycles was +3.64 net gains in seats with each nationally shifted percentage point. The 2018 Democrats raised that historical average to 3.74 net gains ins seats over what are now six applicable midterm cycles (the U.S. House having flipped to the White House opposition party).
While the 2018 midterm election period was still in progress, “Five Thirty Eight’s†Nate Silver had it figured the 2018 Democrats needed to win the popular vote by +5.5 in order to reach the +23 seats needed to flip the House. I went with the whole number of +6. It turns out the 2018 Democrats were able to reach their necessary +23 by winning the U.S. Popular Vote by only +4.35 percentage points.
This is really good for the U.S. House Democrats because the voters, nationwide, were rock-solid in their determination to the flip the House— and they went so far as to give the 2018 Democrats above historical average support.
* * * * * FROM 2018 TO 2019 … * * * * *
Marking this date of Friday, November 30, 2018 — After today, I will be taking a break from posting comments here at “The Progressive Professor.â€
I will be off during the final month, December 2018.
The holidays are coming up. They have my attention. And, even though I still follow politics, and will continue doing so, I think it is good to take a break now and then. As I am sure it is true with, perhaps, nearly everyone here … politics is not one’s sole interest. This is also true with me.
I hope everyone here will have a safe and pleasant period with however one may recognize the coming holidays. (That actually goes for not just holidays.)
I will return in 2019.
D, have a good month break, and we will look forward to your postings in 2019!
Papa Bush has died. He was the kind of Republican president we got when we still had a relatively sane Republican Party. Although remember that part of the reason he lost in 1992 was due to his heresy of – gasp! – raising taxes to help balance the budget. You know, actual fiscal conservatism, as opposed to the current Republican Party’s fake kind. Anyway, RIP George HW Bush.
Rachel’s show on Friday night connects the dots.
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/lifting-russian-sanctions-key-to-trump-deal-exposed-by-cohen-1385505347911
Sounds like bribery going on between Rump and the Russians.