2000 Congressional Elections
House of Representatives
• All 435 seats in the House are at stake
• Current line-up Republicans 222 Democrats 211 Independents 2 (one usually votes with the Democrats one usually votes with the Republicans)
• Not running for re-election Republicans 24 Democrats 8
• While the Republicans hold an 11 seat majority, the critical number is 218 the number of votes needed to pass legislation. • To regain the majority and control of the house the Democrats need a net gain of 6 seats.
Senate
• 33 Senate seats are at stake Republicans 19 Democrats 14
• Current line-up Republicans Democrats • Open seats 55 45
Republican s Democrats
1 4
Resources
These four committees are the congressional campaign arms for the political parties. They assist in recruiting candidates issue research media and polling but their primary roll is fund-raising
National Republican Congressional Committee http://www.nrcc.org
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee http://www.dccc.org
National Republican Senatorial Committee http://www.nrsc.org Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee http://www.dscc.org
Information on Incumbents
U.S. House of Representatives http://www.house.gov/ United States Senate http://www.senate.gov/
Campaign election analysis and handcapping
The Cook Political Report 1501 M Street, N.W. - Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20005 202/739-8525
The Rothenberg Political Report 50 F Street, N.W. - 7th Floor Washington, D.C. 20001 202/546-2822
Campaign Contributions
The Federal Election Commission http://www.fec.gov
Center for Responsive Politics http://www.opensecrets.org
Miscellaneous
Center for American Women and Politics http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~cawp/index.html The Associated Press Campaign Bios - available through Nexis Vital Statistics on Congress - 1999-2000 The AEI Press 1150 17th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036 1-800-269-6267
Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to U.S. Elections Congressional Quarterly’s Poilitics in America Congressional Quarterly 1414 22nd Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037 1-800-638-1710
State Races
• Governorships and state legislatures will be important battlegrounds in this year’s elections. • They will determine the makeup of congressional and legislative districts following the 2000 Census.
State Houses
• Republicans have majorities in 23. • Democrats have majorities in 25. (Washington is evenly split. Alabama, Louisiana, New Jersey and Virginia will not hold legislative elections this year.)
State Senates
• Republicans have majorities in 24. • Democrats have majorities in 24. (Nebraska’s unicameral Legislature is nonpartisan. New Hampshire is evenly divided)
Governors
• Current line-up
Republicans Democrats Independents Reform Party 30 18 1(Maine) 1(Minnesota)
• Governorships at stake(11)
Republicans Democrats Republicans Democrats 4 7 2 3
• Not running for re-election
Resources
National Conference of State Legislatures http://www.ncsl.org National Governors’ Association http://www.nga.org Republican Governors’ Association http://www.rga.org
Democratic Governors’ Association http://www.democratsgovernors.org
National Institute on Money in State Politics http://www.followthemoney.org Republican National Committee http://www.rnc.org
Democratic National Committee http://www.democrats.org