Conservatives Make Historic Gains In Congress

The effects of Nov. 2’s conservative “tsunami” are still being analyzed. From the U.S. Congress to state legislatures and from judges to ballot initiatives, conservatives successfully turned the political establishment on its head.

According to Edison Research, more people identified as conservatives this election—as opposed to Republicans, Democrats or Independents. When surveying those who voted for U.S House candidates, 41 percent identified themselves as conservative, 36 percent as Republicans, 36 percent as Democrats, and 28 percent as Independents. Another positive sign was that the conservative tsunami knew no geographic, ethnic or gender boundaries.

The Republican leaders of Congress—Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, presumptive House speaker; Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, candidate for majority leader; and Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California, candidate for majority whip—released on Nov. 5 a 22-page plan on how they will deliver on their promises. From committee assignments to proposed legislation, their tenacity and commitment to protecting life (e.g., removing taxpayer funding of abortion in the health care bill) and marriage (e.g., passing a federal marriage amendment), just to name a few, remain to be seen.

Pro-family Sen. Jim DeMint said, “America’s moving back towards a Constitutional limited government.…This is really not so much about the Republican Party as it is the American people, who realized during this election cycle that they had a lot more power than they knew they had.”

Though most of the attention on election day and in the days soon after focused on congressional and governors’ races, the changes that could be the most long-lasting took place at the state level. 

According to the National Conference on State Legislatures (NCSL), voters handed over to the Republican Party 19 state chambers previously dominated by Democrats. This translates into a pickup of six Senate chambers—or as many as 10—and 13 House chambers. Republicans now have control of 54 legislative chambers, Democrats control 38, and two chambers—Alaska and Oregon—are split. Four chambers are still undecided. Prior to the election, Democrats controlled 60 chambers, while the GOP held 36 and two chambers were split.

All told, this conservative sweep through the states is significant, in terms of offering up and/or defending state marriage amendments, pro-life initiatives, fiscal discipline measures, and defending constitutional freedoms. Control of state legislatures is also important because the current legislatures will—in most cases—be the ones that make re-districting decisions based on the census.

The Republican Party also made significant gubernatorial gains—and set historic records for minority candidates.

Susana Martinez is the first Hispanic female to be elected as governor, while Brian Sandoval is Nevada’s first Hispanic governor. Nikki Haley is the first female governor of South Carolina—and the nation’s second Indian-American governor. Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana was the first. (EP News)