Based on historical trends, last week’s midterm election results should not have been a surprise to anyone. The party of the incumbent president has lost an average of 30 seats in the House and four in the Senate over the past 21 elections with only two elections where the president’s party has gained seats in both houses. In this cycle, there were more Democrat-held seats in the Senate up for election than in the previous cycle and political pundits questioned whether the Republicans could overcome their previous mistakes and gain enough seats to take over control of the Senate.
We all know the outcome by now even though there are a few races (notably the Senate race in Louisiana) that are still undecided. The Republicans gained seats in the House and gained enough seats in the Senate to control that body when the new Congress convenes in January. The real question is whether or not Congress and the president will choose to collaborate on issues or will continue to fight each other until the new president takes office in 2017.
Hopefully, the hubris exhibited by all the players will take a back seat, reacting to the signal from voters that all is not well in Washington. If that’s the case, we should see more examples of governing through compromise and moderation, not polarization. If that doesn’t happen, the 2016 election will likely be the most expensive and most contested in our history.
