INDEPENDENT SINCE 1880
The Corne¬ Daily Sun MIDTERM ELECTION ISSUE WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2018 Vol. 135 No. 34
House Goes Blue, Senate Stays Red Democratic party gains control of House of Representatives after historic midterm election By SARAH SKINNER and YUICHIRO KAKUTANI Sun Assistant News Editor and Sun News Editor
After a campaign focused on inspiring people to get to the polls through celebrity-laden television and internet campaigns, the Democrats re-took the House of Representatives but lost seats in the Senate as of early Wednesday morning. Democrats were projected to seize the majority in the House with 33 new seats, while the Republicans were predicted to pick up three m o r e seats to fortify their Senate majority according to polling site FiveThirtyEight. The 116th Congress represents major milestones for women and minorities in the country, with the incoming House
projected to have more women than ever in U.S. history. Emblematic of this demographic shift is incoming Kansas Rep. Sharice Davids J.D. ’10, who will be the first Native American women to serve in Congress, The Sun previously reported. Also winning seats were the first Muslim women ever to be elected to Congress: Somali-American Ilhan Omar won Minnesota’s 5th congressional district, and PalestinianAmerican Rashida Tlaib clinched Michigan’s 13th congressional district. The new majority has the potential to change the game for the Democratic party, who have held a minority in both houses since the 2016 election, which also instilled a Republican administration in the White House. Democrats were aided by a so-called “Blue Wave,” relying on an uptick in progressive sympathies over the past two years in the wake of the 2016 election — sentiments that current House minority leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) echoed in a speech to supporters on Tuesday night. “The Democratic congress will be run with transparency and openness. We will have accountability, and we will strive for bipartisanship,” she told supporters in a speech broadcasted by CNN. “A Democratic congress will work
for solutions that bring us together, because we have all had enough of division.” Democrats needed to flip at least 23 Republican-held House seats in Tuesday’s election in order to retake the majority, which many forecasts — including FiveThirtyEight and The New York Times — projected as a likelihood. Some Democrats clinched victories despite unfavorable odds, such as incoming Rep. Max Rose here in New York state, who usurped a House seat rated as RepublicanSee NATIONAL page 6
MEGAN ROCHE / SUN PROJECTS EDITOR
Tom Reed Defeats Tracy Mitrano J.D. ’95 for New York 23rd District By MARYAM ZAFAR and ROCHELLE LI Sun Staff Writers
Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) has saved his seat in Congress for the next two years following victory over Democratic
candidate Tracy Mitrano J.D. ’95. While Tompkins County voted overwhelmingly in favor of Mitrano, with 74.52 percent of the county voting for the cybersecurity expert, the rest of New York’s 23rd district re-elected Reed, who
CAMERON POLLACK / SUN FILE PHOTO
Red Reed wins | Incumbent Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) defeated alumna Tracy Mitrano J.D. ’95, though Tompkins County overwhelmingly voted for Mitrano.
to FiveThirtyEight, voted alongside has served the area since 2010. “Thank you, New York!” Reed wrote President Donald Trump’s viewpoint 96.6 percent of the time. on Facebook early Wednesday. Following an increase in voter regMitrano called Reed to concede the race, according to an emailed statement istration since 2017 across all counfrom Aryn Fields, a spokesperson for the Mitrano campaign. “While I’m disappointed in “While I’m disappointed in the ultimate results, I the ultimate results, I am also exceedingly proud and grateful am also exceedingly proud and grateful to have to have had the chance to run had the chance to run in this race.” in this race,” Mitrano wrote. Tracy Mitrano J.D. ’95 “Though we fell short in the final vote count, our work is not over.” Winning with a margin of 53.78 ties, according to New York’s Board of percent over Mitrano’s 43.99 percent, Elections, all eyes were on voter turnout. Reed’s campaign went against the nationAlmost 35,000 Tompkins County resal trend for House seats. Although the idents voted in this year’s midterm elecCook Partisan Voter Index deemed the tion, a 30 percent increase from 2014’s race a likely Republican one, Mitrano’s midterm election, when Reed defeated campaign had hoped that the national- then-challenger Martha Robertson ’75 in ly deliberated “blue wave” might wash an election where 190,554 ballots were cast. In this election cycle, that number them to Washington, D.C. Instead, Reed will continue his tenure, reached 228,475 as of late Tuesday night. “We really did something that was diffollowing a campaign that denounced the Affordable Care Act, opposed New ferent,” Mitrano said late Tuesday night York’s gun-control legislature, known from the campaign’s Horseheads watch as the SAFE Act, and arguing for a simpler tax code. Reed has, according See DISTRICT 23 page 2