PSW has prepared a 2022 General Election Tracker that we will be updating in real time on Election Night. The tracker has tabs for key House and Senate races. Each of these sheets includes the Cook Political Report’s latest ratings for the individual races and Cook’s Partisan Voting Index (PVI), a measurement of how strongly a congressional seat leans toward the Democratic or Republican candidate compared to the nation as a whole.
Congressional Update
House. House Republicans have announced their schedule for organizing meetings for the 118th Congress. On Monday, Nov. 14, they will hold a leadership candidate forum, and the following day, Republicans who have been elected to serve in the next Congress will meet to choose their leaders. On Nov. 16, the schedule calls for votes on proposals to amend and approve the rules of the House Republican Conference as well as ratification of the Steering Committee structure.
Nov. 18 will round out the week with regional elections for the Steering and Policy Committee, the panel that, in effect, decides committee assignments for House Republican members and GOP leaders of many House committees. Technically, the Steering and Policy Committee recommends the chairs or ranking members and membership of the House’s standing committees for the approval of the full Republican Conference.
Democrats have not announced when they will hold their leadership elections, but they are likely to take place after Thanksgiving.
Senate. In addition to the turnover the Senate will see as the result of Tuesday’s elections, there will also be a new member next year from Nebraska. Republican Senator Ben Sasse, who is not up for re-election this year, was selected by the University of Florida trustees on Nov. 1 to serve as the school’s next president. The Florida Board of Governors will meet Nov. 10 to confirm the selection.
Given the 50-50 split in the Senate, Sasse is not expected to resign his seat until Congress adjourns in December. It will be up to Nebraska’s governor to appoint a replacement, who will serve until 2024, but the question is, “Which governor will that be?” Gov. Pete Ricketts (R) is the current governor and has said he will not appoint himself. However, there will be a new governor on Jan. 3 since Ricketts was term-limited out of office, and the speculation is that the new governor, who is likely to be a Republican, will appoint Ricketts.
Political Update
Early Voting. According to the U.S. Elections Project, almost 41 million ballots have been submitted as of this morning. The total surpasses the 39.1 million cast in the 2018 midterm elections. In 2018, early voting, either by mail or in person, accounted for about 40% of the total vote, up from 31% in the 2014 midterms.
Election Results. The New York Times today took a look at when races might be called after votes are cast tomorrow. Their review included seven states with Senate races that are particularly close:
The House and Senate this week are aiming to pass legislation to keep the government funded through Dec. 20 and then lawmakers will recess until after the November elections.
Read MoreWashington observers continue to question whether House Speaker Johnson will have enough Republican votes to pass his proposal to extend government funding for six months.
Read MoreNo one expects the government to shut down at the end of the month, but the path to enacting a continuing resolution could be bumpy.
Read More