Red vs. Blue 16
THE LEAF | WEDNESDAY, DEC. 17 | SHSLEAF.ORG
ATIYA DOSANI
CLAIRE LEFTON
RILEY KURTZ
neil yejjey
print editor-in-chief staff writer
staff writer
kamaria walton staff writer
staff writer
Democrats won 186 seats in the House
Republicans won 244 seats in the House
T
he 2014 midterm elections witnessed a conservative sweep of congressional seats. The GOP has even managed to seize 11 Democratic districts and run a tight race in traditionally blue states like CA. Republican dominance in the legislative branch means the new Senate majority leader will be KY senator, Mitch McConnell. In recent years the Republican party has been splitting due to the more radically conservative tea party candidates conflicting with moderates. McConnell aims to not only unite the party, but the House. “Just because we have a two-party system doesn’t mean we have to be in perpetual conflict,” McConnell said in an interview with “The Atlantic.” Despite McConnell and other Republicans’ claims that they want a more bipartisan government, threats have been made for another government shutdown and an impeachment of the president.
Red=Republican Blue=Democrat Purple=Swing
“It was interesting to see the switch from Democratic dominance to Republican, but it was not surprising.”
William Hobart, 12 “I hope that Obama can make a change even with a mostly Republican House.”
Varun Kaliarsan, 10 “It’s been a while since we’ve had a Republican government so I would be open to change.” Anthony Lombardi, 10
D
emocrats did not fair well in the 2014 midterm election. President Barack Obama even set the record for two-term president with the most midterm losses for party. Control of the Senate has escaped blue influence, making NV senator Harry Reid the minority leader instead of the majority leader. Heavy democratic losses are being attributed to voter exit polls. A majority of voters were caucasian and elderly while the democratic voteres were largely youth and the non-white population, and they were noticeably absent. The president will most likely find the last two years of his term a challenge as his GOP house has verbally pledged to block as much of his legislation as possible. Despite this harsh loss, 24 Republican senate seats will be up for re-election while only 10 Democrat seats will be. With a new campaign strategy in 2016, the Democrats could make a comeback.