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).
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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.