Bob Menendez

The 116th Congress Will Have The Most Minorities And Women In American History

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The 116th Congress (2019-2020) will set a record for the most minorities and women in Congress in American history.

Right now, in the 115th Congress, racial and ethnic minorities represent more than 45 percent of House Democrats, and women make up one third of the Democrats in the chamber.

Republicans on the other hand, have very few of either group right now, and not likely to have much more representation in the next Congress.

83 House members who are minorities right now are Democrats, while only 12 are Republicans.

There are 84 Women in the House, and about two thirds are Democrats.

The Senate has 9 members who are minorities, three African American, two Asian American, and four Hispanic American. Three of the nine (Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio) are Republicans, while the other six (Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, Tammy Duckworth, Mazie Hirono, Bob Menendez, Catherine Cortez Masto) are Democrats.

There are 23 women in the Senate, with 6 being Republicans and 17 being Democrats.

America will have a much more representative Congress, not just a typical white male dominance as was the case in most of American history.

American History Since The Civil War: President’s Party Loses 32 House Seats And 2 Senate Seats In First Midterm Election

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American history tells us that the party of the President regularly loses seats in the first, and all but once in the second (when it occurs) Presidential term of office.

The one major exception was 1934, when in the midst of the Great Depression, and FDR’s New Deal programs, the Democratic party gained 9 seats in the Senate and 9 seats in the House of Representatives.

Also, in 2002, after September 11, George W. Bush and the Republican Party gained 2 seats in the Senate and 8 in the House of Representatives.

And Bill Clinton and the Democratic Party, in the second term midterm election in 1998, gained 5 House seats, with no change in the US Senate.

That is the total historical record since the Civil War, more than 150 years, so it is clear that the Democrats will gain seats in the midterm elections of 2018.

The average since the Civil War is 32 House seats and 2 Senate seats, and if that happens precisely, the Democrats will have gained the House, needing only 24 seats, and the average historically being 23 seats, when one includes both first and second term midterm elections of a President.

But also, if the Senate were to see just the 2 seat gain as the average, then the Democrats would have the majority with 51 seats, which can be brought about by gaining the contested seats of Arizona, where Jeff Flake is retiring, and Nevada, where Dean Heller is seen as the most endangered Republican in 2018.

But to accomplish that, the Democrats must produce, miraculously. the retention of Senate seats in 10 Trump states in 2016–Missouri, North Dakota, Indiana, Montana, West Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio, and also retain the Minnesota seat recently vacated by Al Franken, and the New Jersey Senate seat of Bob Menendez, who faces another criminal trial after a hung jury. That will be a tall order for sure!

New Jersey Becomes First State To Have African American and Hispanic American Senators

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The state of New Jersey become the first state to have African American and Hispanic American Senators representing it.

The swearing in of Cory Booker, escorted by Bob Menendez (of Cuban heritage), makes the state proud that it has done something that only Hawaii has done otherwise, having had two Asian Americans in the Senate for much of its history as a state.

Menendez was the second Cuban American in the Senate, and Booker is only the fourth elected African American Senator in American history.

“Gang Of Six” Becomes “Gang Of Eight” On Immigration Reform

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As a new immigration reform plan is unveiled by Senators, the “Gang of Six” described yesterday in a blog entry has now become a “Gang of Eight”.

Joining the group, which had included John McCain of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Marco Rubio of Florida, Charles Schumer of New York, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Dick Durbin of Florida are Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona and Democratic Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado.

President Obama is to speak about this issue in Nevada on Tuesday, and it seems as if, finally, there may be a move toward real action on an issue that has been highly divisive, including a failure to get a McCain-Ted Kennedy bill through Congress in 2007 under President George W. Bush, who had pushed for it, but failed to see it succeed. Let us hope for quick action!

The “Gang Of Six” And Immigration Reform Moving Ahead

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President Barack Obama has made immigration reform one of the major goals of his second term in the Presidency, and now, after much resistance for years by the majority of Republicans, suddenly we have a “Gang of Six” US Senators who are cooperatively working together toward that goal, making the likelihood of such reform much more likely.

The members of the “Gang of Six” are:

Democrats Charles Schumer of New York, Bob Menendez of New Jersey, and Dick Durbin of Illinois

Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, John McCain of Arizona, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

This group includes Senators from key states that have growing Latino population—New York, New Jersey, Illinois, Florida, Arizona and South Carolina.

it includes two leading Hispanic Senators, both Cuban—Menendez and Rubio.

It includes two Democratic leaders, the number 2 and number 3 in the leadership—Durbin and Schumer.

It includes former Republican Presidential candidate McCain, and his good friend, Graham.

If any combination of Democrats and Republicans can accomplish the goal of recognition of the need for a reasonable immigration reform, rather than the anti immigrant view of Mitt Romney during the Presidential campaign of 2012, it is this group of US Senators!