Final Results: Partisan Shift following Mid-Term Election

By Faith Chatham - November 30, 2014

When new legislators are sworn-in in January 2019, Congress and most State Legislatures will be more balanced.

In the US House - 436 members
Was 240 Republicans 
Was 195 Democrats -
Was 45 Seat Republican Majority with GOP Speaker and House Committee Chairs

Now 200 Republicans
Now 235 Democrats -
Now 35 Democratic Majority with DEM Speaker and House Committee Chairs
Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House.

US Senate - 100 Members
Was 51 Republicans 
Was 49 Democrats
Was 4 Seat GOP Majority

Now 53 Republicans
Now 47 Democrats -
Now 6 Seat GOP Majority

State Legislatures
Was 31 Republican Majority
Was 14 Democratic Majority
Was 4 Split with 1 Non- Partisan

Now 30 Republican Majority
Now 18 Democratic Majority
Now 1 Split with 1 Non-Partisan

Governors
Was 34 Republican Majority
Was 16 Democratic Majority -
Was 8 more GOP Majority than Dem

Now 27 Republican Majority
Now 23 Democratic Majority  (Flipped 4 from GOP to Dem)

At least 100 of the US Congressional seats will be filled by women for the first time in American History. A record number of Democratic women will advance to Chair House Committees and the Speaker of the House is a woman.

The majority of seats flipped from red to blue were flipped by women candidates.
Women demonstrated that first time female candidates can raise sufficient money to finance viable campaigns against Republican incumbents.

In Texas before the 2018 Mid-terms we had 3 women in the US House
(1 White Republican and 2 Black Democrats)
In January 2019 Texas will have 6 women Congress
(2 Latina Democratic Women, 2 Black Democratic Women, 1 White Democratic Woman and 1 White Republican Woman.)
Also, with the US House Democratic Majority, US Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson advnces to Chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology.

Beto O'Rourak's Senate Campaign in Texas demonstrated that a Democratic candidate can raise more funds than an incumbent Republican without accepting PAC donations.

Lupe Valdez, in her first run for a statewide office in Texas, competing with less than 1/50ieth of the funds of the GOP incumbent,. and only  fraction of the funds spent by any of the four previous Democratic nominees for Governor in Texas yet received more votes than any Democratic Nominee for Governor in the history of Texas.

Valdez raised much less than Wendy Davis ('14) or Bill White ('10) ) but received 1,693,109 more votes than the 2014 Democratic candidate for Texas Governor and 1,422,310 more votes than Bill White in 2010.. Her race demonstrates that sexual orientation and gender is not a "deal breaker" to the 3,528,705 Texans who voted for Lupe Valdez for Governor in 2018.

In 2010 with a 37.53%  voter Turn-out in Texas, former Houston Mayor Bill White (Dem) lost to Republican Incumbent Rick Perry by 631,086 votes.

In 2014 with a Voter Turn-out of 33.64%, Wendy Davis (Dem) lost to GOP Incumbent Greg Abbott by  960,951 votes.

In 2018 with a Voter Turn-out of  52.60% and a much smaller war chest than either of her two Democratic Nominee predecessors or the GOP Incumbent, Lupe Valdez  lost to GOP Incumbent Greg Abbott by 1,109,877 votes. Abbott got 55.83% to Valdez's 42.47%.  Valdez increased the percent of Democratic votes for Governor in the General election  points over '14 and  points over '10.

Other Democratic first-time candidates running for statewide offices in Texas also narrowed the gap between historic GOP/Dem turn-out.
There was not much movement between the margins for Texas' Comptroller for Public Accounts when comparing the percentage of votes cast for female first time candidate Joi Chevalier who got got 43.36% to GOP incumbent Glen Hagar's 58.21%.. (Hagar won with 58.38% in 2014 against Mike Collier).
.
Democrats got a 10% bump in 2018 over the 2014 race for Agriculture Commissioner in Texas. Retired USAF officer/combat pilot,   Democratic challenger Kim Olson got 46.38% to GOP Incumbent Sid Miller's 51.38%.  In 2014, the Democratic nominee Jim Hogan only got 36,84% to Republican Sid Miller's 58.60%.  This year Kim Olson demonstrated that 10% more of the Texans who voted chose a woman over the previous male Democratic Agriculture Commissioner candidates (1,065,053 more votes for Olson in 2018 than for her male Democratic predecessor.

In accessing the results of the 2018 Mid-terms, seeing the increase in turn-out, increase in nuber of women and minority candidates, and the increase in donor giving to first-time Democratic challengers running for seats occupied by GOP incumbents, there is evidence that 2018 is most likely a water-shed year. Considerable political infrastructure has been built in areas which have been neglected or shunned by Democratic candidates and donors.

.The running tally of seats flipped nationally from Red to Blue during the 2018 Mid-term Election:
40+ US House seats flipped 7 Gov seats flipped 7 new state leg majorities 5 Republican super majorities in state legislatures broken this cycle 4 AG seats flipped 4 State Treasurer seats flipped 2 SOS seats flipped 2 Senate seats flipped 380 state legislative seats flipped this cycle with some run-offs pending.

Recount in TX House District with 221 vote difference

UPDATE: 11/30/2018 Editor's Note: The recount is complete and Joanna has conceded to the incumbent. Ms. Cattanch ran an exceptional campaign in a predominately Republican district. She has succeeded in showing that this seat is competitive. In 2016 Terry Meza was very close to flipping a DFW Metroplex Texas House seat from a GOP Incumbent. On January 8th, 2019 she will be sworn into office as that district's State Representative. Terry is a good role model for Joanna. Perhaps we will see Ms. Cattanach sworn into office in January 2021!

Press Release by Cattanach for State Representative Campaign: "We have officially filed paperwork with the Secretary of State requesting a recount. As of Tuesday, the vote differential in this race is 221 as compared to 440 on Election Night. That amounts to 0.28 percentage difference. Recounts are not automatic in Texas and require a payment based on number of precincts and other fees. We have—as part of the process—continued watching the count because every vote does matter! Our volunteer poll watchers have stayed in the Elections Office around the clock to make sure the count is transparent and fair. Because the unofficial election counting has included provisional, military and absentee ballots, we are only now able to request an official recount. Thank you to those who’ve served as poll watchers! We will need more so please send an email if you are available to serve to: info@joannafortexas.com We are also accepting contributions to the recount effort online or via mail to: 6333 E. Mockingbird Ln. Suite 147-537 Dallas, Texas 75214. Thank you for your support and encouragement! Let’s keep going. Team Joanna" Contribute

Some of us dare to swim for our lives while others yell women have no business being in the water!

By Faith Chatham - Nov. 13, 2018

Whenever someone says: 

'there is no difference between parties' 

-- show them the composition of the 116th US Congress. 

Of the 102 Women in the US House, 

only 19 are Republicans. 

I think this is because too many women, especially Republican women, are content to keep on making the coffee while the men make the decisions. Democratic women make coffee too, but we decide what brand to buy and insist on having a fair shot at chairing the meeting.

Granted, there are Republican women who are elected officials. However, there are more Democratic Women in higher offices than Republicans. 

It is not easy to get men to share power, 

even with other men. 

• White men, especially White Republican men vote for women much more rarely than White Democratic men, Latino men or Black men. 
• Women help keep men in power. Over 50% of the US population is female but women have less than 20% representation in the 115th Congress and slightly under 25% in the 116th Congress which will be seated in January 2019.
• Republican women are more likely to vote for a man than for a woman.

The numbers tell it loud and clear.

• If you are female, and you want to serve in the US HOUSE or SENATE, you are five times more likely not to be elected if you run as a Republican than if you are a Democrat.
• Republicans elect women to serve in honorary positions where they make few decisions. For example,most of the Republican electors in the 2016 Texas Electoral College were women. They were bound electors pledged to support the Republican Convention's choice of candidates. Republicans are generous in electing women to the electoral college because they send them as bound electors -- not in positions to actually make decisions. 
• Republicans like having tokens. They like having a few Blacks and Latinos in the crowd. It makes the party It looks more inclusive if they have a person of color immediately behind the candidate for photo ops. 
• Even women corporate CEOs rarely win the nomination of the Republican party for President, Senate or US House of Representatives.They are more likely to be chosen as a Vice-Presidential running mate than for positions with greater immediate power.

Again, the numbers tell it all. 

The Republican party has never 

nominated a woman for president.

• Out of 25 GOP controlled  US House seats in the Texas delegation and 2 Senatorial Seats, the Republicans have only one woman in the Texas delegation in the 114th and 115th Congress. Texas has been really slow to elect women to Congress. Most Congressional seats are gerrymandered to favor Republicans. 
• In the history of Texas, only one Texas woman has ever been elected to the Senate, and she won with strong independent and cross-over partisan support. 
• Currently, neither of the Republican senators from Texas is female. 
• Democrats controlled only 11 Congressional seats in 2014 and 2016, but three of the Democratic U.S. Representatives are female.
• Following the 2018 mid-term election, the number of women in the Texas Federal delegation doubled. None of the new Congresswomen from Texas are Republican. 
• Texas Republicans did not add any women or persons of color into their federal delegation. Republicans lost two congressional seats: one to a Democratic woman (Lizzie Fletcher - US TX 7) and one to a Black Democratic man (Colin Allred  - US TX 32). 
• Two of the 11 Democratic Congressional seats vacated by the resignation of Democratic Congressmen will be filled in the 116th Congress by former El Paso County Judge Veronica Escobar and former Texas State Senator Sylvia Garcia, the first Latinas to serve in the US Congress.

Ideology aside, there is a vast difference between the parties. 
A mere photo of the Republican Federal Delegation from Texas and of the Democratic Federal Delegation from Texas clearly shows that Republican voters are much less inclusive than Democratic voters.

• Nationwide, that same reality is reflected in the composition of the 115th and the 116th US Congress. 
• If there were no difference, we would have many more women in the US House and Senate. 
• If  Republican women were as likely to be elected as Democratic women, this year, instead of approaching 25% female in the US House, we would be approaching 40%. 

Republican women need to wake up. 

You can continue playing the little woman who is the worker bee while letting the boys make the decisions for you, or you can think for yourself and step into roles where you forge your own destiny. 

Until you do, your daughters are bound to old tyrannies, and those who are forging our own paths are obstructed by the decisions of men you enable and propel into power.

The biggest obstacle in America today 

is not Donald Trump. 

It is that too many women 

underestimate our own worth, 

decision making ability and competence.

We settle for too little.. As long as one woman works and votes against her own self interest, we are all hindered in our journey.

We may think that labels such as liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican or Independent are the great divide. I think the bigger divide is between those who are daring to swim for our lives and those who stand on the shore yelling that women have no business being in the water.

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