Election Watch 2006
Credit Unions and the 2006 Election Results
Another election has come and gone, and this one turned out to be quite historic. As is well known by now, the Democrats have retaken the U.S. House of Representatives. There are a number of races still undecided or subject to a recount, but as of this writing it is apparent the Democrats picked up somewhere between 27 and 33 seats, far exceeding the 15 they needed for a majority.
The Democrats have taken a slight majority of the U.S. Senate chamber as well. It should be noted that this follows an historic pattern. Since the Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution provided for direct elections to the Senate in 1913, the House has never switched party control in an election without the Senate switching party control as well.
While credit unions inevitably lost a few friends on Tuesday, overall we had a good night, at least when measured by the number of credit union supporters who won. An overview of the results with regards to credit union supported candidates is below.
Whatever one’s political leanings, one thing is certain: when Congress convenes in January, there will be a lot of new faces and thus a lot of new opportunities to share the credit union difference. Remember, another election is less than two years away.
CULAC Results
In the U.S. House, CULAC supported 381 candidates. Of those 381, 350 candidates won, 22 candidates lost, and 9 have yet to be called as of this writing. Of the races called, this gives CULAC a 92% winning percentage among supported House candidates. A list of the results in key competitive races, as determined by the Cook Political Report prior to the election, is linked here.
In the U.S. Senate, CULAC supported 31 candidates in the 33 races. 23 of our supported candidates won election and eight lost. CULAC's win percentage was 74%. The full results of the Senate elections are posted here.
CULAC contributed a record $2.89 million to candidate committees, leadership PACs and party committees this election cycle, placing our PAC among the top ten PACs nationally in PAC giving. This includes a record $2.4 million directly to candidate committees.
Independent Expenditures
In the general election, CULAC continued its support through independent expenditures for Sen. Joe Lieberman, (CT), who despite losing his Democratic primary earlier this year was reelected as an independent yesterday. Independent expenditures are direct communications to voters paid for by a PAC that cannot be coordinated with the campaign. Between Sen. Lieberman’s primary and yesterday’s general election, CULAC spent over $235,000 on eight separate mailings to support his reelection. This was in addition to CULAC’s maximum of $10,000 in direct contributions to Lieberman’s campaign.
CURIA Co-Sponsors
Of the 124 CURIA co-sponsors in the current Congress, 117 were on the ballot for re-election to the House. As of this writing, 112 were reelected, four were defeated, and one (Rep. Robert Simmons, R-CT) remains uncalled. Note also that one CURIA co-sponsor, Rep. Bernie Sanders, (I-VT) was elected to the U.S. Senate in the seat vacated by Sen. Jim Jeffords (I-VT). CULAC supported Sanders with the maximum $10,000 contribution.
