Democracy Chronicles makes a brief retrospect of what the results of the 2016 midterms were.

In November 2016, a total 0f 469 seats in the US Congress were up for elections. Out of these, 34 Senate seats were at stake while all 435 House of Representative seats were in play.

The high of the 2016 elections was whether the Democrats will be able to regain control of the Senate or not. For them to realize this goal they needed 5 seats in the elections. However, they were only able to get 2, resulting in a 52-48 majority for Republicans.

The Democratic Party gained only 6 house seats in 2016 leading to 241-194 majority for the Republican Party. During this election, the Republicans held a majority in the US senates with 54 Senate seats while Democrats had 44 Senate seats.

The death of the Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia on February 2016 brought more importance to the Senate elections. It showcased the importance of numbers when to house control on nominations and bills.

As the Republicans were in control of the house at that time, they tended to deny any nominee chosen by President Barrack Obama. At the end, a number of Republicans senators including majority leader Mitch McConnell decided that new President would have the power to appoint a new Justice.

In the past, Democrats had suffered loses during midterms while making significant gains during presidential elections. Therefore, considering that 2016 was a year for presidential election, the democrats were expected to make a comeback in Congress. They, however, failed to do so.

One of the burning questions for this 2018 midterm elections is what if the Republicans win the midterms again. What are the stakes? DC attempts to address this question in an upcoming piece.