In 2016, the Democratic Party needed to pick up five seats in the Senate in order to regain the majority they lost in 2014. There were 24 Republican seats and 10 Democratic seats up for re-election. Republicans maintained their majority after the election, losing only two seats. The Republicans won the Senate majority in the 2014 midterm elections when they gained nine seats and lost none. Two seats were held by independents, who caucus with the Democratic Party. Republicans held 54 Senate seats while the Democrats had 44 Senate seats. Heading into the election, the Republican Party held the majority in the U.S. Senate overview See also: United States Senate elections, 2016 5.6 Incumbents who sought higher office.Ultimately, Donald Trump's victory at the top of the ticket led to smaller gains in both chambers by the Democratic Party than initially expected. In the past decade, Democrats had made gains in both chambers in presidential elections, while they had suffered losses in the midterms. The fact that 2016 was a presidential election year was expected to be a boon for Democratic candidates. As expected, the Republican Party easily held the chamber, losing just six seats. If Democrats had won every one of those 37 races and lost no other seats, they would have just hit the 30 seats required to retake the chamber. Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated 23 races as battlegrounds and an additional 14 as races to watch. In order to flip control of the chamber, the Democratic Party would have needed to pick up 30 seats. When you go right off the bat and say, 'I don't care who he nominates, I am going to oppose him,' that's not going to fly." Īlthough it was extremely unlikely for Democrats to retake the House, the possibility had been discussed prior to the election. The American people don't like this obstruction. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said of the issue, "I believe that many of the mainstream Republicans, when the president nominates a mainstream nominee, will not want to follow Mitch McConnell over the cliff. This also raised the issue of Republican obstructionism in some battleground states. This put increased pressure on both parties to win the Senate in 2016, as the chamber has the ability to confirm or deny the next president's nominees. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new President." Īppointment and confirmation of the replacement justice will be left to the newly elected president and Senate in 2017. McConnell said in a statement, "The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court Justice. Several Republican senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, declared that the next president should have the responsibility of appointing the new justice. Confirmation of a new Supreme Court justice requires 60 votes in the Senate, giving the Republican-controlled Senate the ability to deny any nominee chosen by President Barack Obama. The unexpected death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on February 13, 2016, placed even greater importance on the 2016 Senate elections. As a result of this wave, Democrats only had 10 seats to defend in 2016, while 24 Republican incumbents were up for re-election. The majority of vulnerable seats were held by Republican incumbents, many of whom were freshmen who were swept into office in the Tea Party wave of 2010. They fell short of this goal, only picking up two seats in the general election. In order to take the chamber back, Democrats needed to gain five seats in 2016. The big story of the 2016 congressional election cycle was whether or not the Democratic Party would be able to regain control of the Senate. Congress (34 Senate seats and all 435 House seats) were up for election on November 8, 2016.
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