Congressional Elections of 2020 Quiz

Answer: One

The only race where a white male flipped a seat was California 21, where David Valadao defeated T.J. Cox. Valadao was elected congressman in 2012 and Cox defeated him in 2018. In a close fought battle, Valadao won back his seat by about 1700 votes. And even Valadao is an outlier; he is the son of Portuguese immigrants.

In 11 of 12 races where a Republican defeated an incumbent Democrat, they were either female or a racial minority. In nine races, the winning Republican was a woman.

In California, Young Kim (CA 39) and Michelle Steel (CA 48) are the first Korean American women to serve in Congress. In Florida 27, Maria Salazar, the daughter of Cuban immigrants, defeated Donna Shalala. In Iowa 1, Ashley Hinson beat Abby Finkenauer. In Minnesota 7, Michelle Fischbach beat veteran legislator Collin Peterson.

In New Mexico 2, Yvette Harrell defeated Xochitl Torres Small. In New York 11, Nicole Malliotakis defeated Max Rose. In Oklahoma 5, Stephanie Bice, the daughter of Iranian immigrants, beat Kendra Horn. And in South Carolina 1, Nancy Mace defeated freshman Joe Cunningham.

Of the two males, Carlos Gimenez (Florida 26) is a Cuban-American, and in Utah 4, Burgess Owens is African-American.

Republicans came close to regaining the House due to female and minority candidates who were children of immigrants. Kudos to the NRCC for their recruitment program.

Answer: Iowa 2

Iowa's Second District was open due to the retirement of Democrat Dave Loebsack. Iowa Democrats were optimistic about holding on to the seat following their successes in the 2018 elections. Former State Senator Rita Hart (Dem) faced off against current State Senator Mariannette Miller-Meeks (Rep), and Miller-Meeks was certified the winner with a margin of six (6) votes out of almost 414,000 cast.

California 25 covers Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. Incumbent Republican Mike Garcia, who won a special election in May 2020, was facing off against State Representative Christy Smith. Garcia held on to his seat by a 333 vote margin, with both candidates getting just over 169,000 votes in a race that cost $13.6 million.

In Illinois 14, freshman Lauren Underwood held onto her seat against millionaire James Oberweis, winning by around 5000 votes, 50.6 to 49.4.

In Arizona 1, incumbent Democrat Tom O'Halleran defeated Tiffany Shedd 51 to 48, winning by about 12,000 votes.

Answer: North Carolina

Democrats gained two seats in North Carolina: the Second, where Republican George Holding retired, and the Sixth, where Republican Mark Walker retired.

In 2019, a court decision forced a redrawing of North Carolina's congressional districts. The map drawn by the legislature was allowed to stand by state courts in December 2019 and will be used once.

The two seats that flipped were North Carolina 2, where Deborah Ross will replace George Holding and North Carolina 6 where Kathy Manning will replace Mark Walker. In both cases, the new members won with over 60 percent and Republicans did not seriously contest either election.

Answer: 19

There are seven states that have one member. Five of them are represented by Republicans: Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Two are represented by Democrats: Delaware and Vermont.

Of the 12 states with single party delegations, 6 were Republican: Arkansas (4), Idaho (2), Nebraska (3), Oklahoma (5), Utah (4), and West Virginia (3). Oklahoma and Utah had Democratic members in the 116th Congress, but they lost their re-election bids.

The six Democratic states are: Connecticut (5), Hawaii (2), Maine (2), Massachusetts (9), New Hampshire (2) and Rhode Island (2). The only Republican left in all of New England is Senator Susan Collins of Maine.

Answer: Collin Peterson (Minnesota)

Collin Peterson, who had served in Congress since 1990, was defeated by Michelle Fischbach. Former leader of the Minnesota State Senate, Fischbach briefly served as Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota when Tina Smith became a US Senator in January 2018. She defeated him by a margin of almost 50,000 votes, 54 to 40 percent.

Young did have a serious race against Alyse Galvin, but won with 54.5 percent. Young was the longest serving member of the 116th Congress and will continue the streak in the 117th,

DeFazio, who was first elected in 1986, won his race with 51.2 percent against Republican Alek Skarlatos, who was notable for stopping a terrorist attack on a Paris-bound train in 2015.

Kind has been a member since 1996. He narrowly defeated Republican Derrick Van Orden 51 to 48, winning by about 10,000 votes.

Answer: Georgia

Georgia Seventh was open due to the retirement of Rob Woodall. Democrat Carolyn Bourdeaux defeated Rich McCormick 51.4 percent to 48.6 percent, around 10,000 votes. The district is northeast of Atlanta and contains several of the suburban counties that were key to Joe Biden's victory in Georgia.

Bourdeaux has a Doctorate in Public Policy from Syracuse University, and has been active in government for around 20 years. She ran for the House in 2018 and lost by only 433 votes, the closest race in the entire country. Bourdeaux has taught political science at Georgia State University since 2003.

In Texas, all Republican incumbents won and they managed to hold on to several open seats. In Mississippi, all four incumbents were re-elected. In Tennessee, the incumbents were re-elected and Republicans held on to District 1.

Answer: Arizona and Colorado

Astronaut Mark Kelly defeated Martha McSally in Arizona. McSally had lost in the 2018 Senate race, but was appointed to fill John McCain's seat by the Republican governor.

In Colorado, former governor John Hickenlooper defeated Republican Cory Gardner. The conservative Republican had been a bad fit for a state that had been growing increasingly more liberal, and was one of the top targets for Democrats in 2020.

Susan Colins (ME) and Joni Ernest (IA) won re-election. Mitch McConnell easily won re-election in Kentucky and Republicans held on to Lamar Alexander's seat in Tennessee.

In Montana, Democratic Governor Steve Bullock lost to Senator Steve Gaines. In North Carolina, Senator Thom Tillis defended his seat against Cal Cunningham.

Answer: Doug Jones (Alabama)

Jones, a civil rights attorney who was elected in the Special Election to replace Jeff Sessions, lost to former football coach Tommy Tuberville in a 60-40 landslide.

Peters won a hard fought battle against John James, in a narrow 49.9 - 48.2 percent victory, around 90,000 votes.

Tina Smith was Lieutenant Governor of Minnesota when she replaced Al Franken. She defeated Jason Mark Lewis by just under 170,000 votes, 48.7 to 43.5 percent.

In Illinois, Durbin defeated former sheriff Mark Curran by almost 700,000 votes, a 13 point victory.

Answer: Jaime Harrison (South Carolina)

Jaime Harrison spent over $105 million in losing to Senator Lindsey Graham, who spent $59.7 million defending his seat. Graham won by 258,000 votes. Harrison spent $95 per vote in his losing effort.

Mark Kelly was second, spending $78,790,737 to defeat Martha McSally, who shelled out $48,672,290. Kelly spent a much more reasonable $47 per vote in his victory.

Amy McGrath was third, spending $75,280,930 in her losing race against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell ($42,975,425). McGrath's cost per vote was $92.25.

And in Maine, Sara Gideon spent $48,852,757 in her losing bid against Susan Collins. The veteran senator spent $22,385,272 to win. Gideon's per vote cost was $142.

Answer: Alaska

Of the 34 races for United States Senate, only eight were decided by under 100,000 votes. In most cases, the Democratic or Republican candidate won by a fairly wide margin.

The closest win was in Alaska, where Dan Sullivan defeated Al Gross by 190,772 to 145,813. Gross actually outspent Sullivan almost 2 to 1.

In the other three:
New Mexico: Congressman Ben Ray Lujan defeated Mark Ronchetti 474,391 to 418,437.

Montana: Incumbent Steve Daines defeated Governor Steve Bullock 333,174 to 272,463. Bullock dramatically outspent Daines during the campaign.

Maine: Susan Collins won re-election against state legislator Sara Gideon by 415,796 to 343,348. Gideon outspent Collins by two to one.