The Congressional Numbers

​With the 2018 campaign results now in the books, or close to it (the one exception being the outstanding CA-21 race that now favors Democrat T.J. Cox to defeat GOP Rep. David Valadao), we can look at the detailed composition of the new House and Senate.
 
The House will feature 235 Democrats and 200 Republicans, a gain of 40 Democratic seats when compared to the previous Congress.  A total of 93 are freshmen, not counting the nine members who came to the House as special election winners in 2017 and ’18.  Of the 93 freshmen, 62 are Democrats.  A total of 244 House members will have served three full terms or less when the new Congress convenes, making this the least senior chamber in the modern political era. 
 
The Senate will feature 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats, eight of whom are freshmen.  This number does not include the two appointed Senators, Tina Smith (D-MN) and Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), who have now been elected in their own right.  The Republicans gained a net two seats when compared to the previous Congress.  In 2020, 22 Republicans will be defending their seats versus just 12 Democrats, the opposite of the 2018 situation where the latter party was on the defensive in 26 of the 35 election campaigns.