94 Percent
Greg Giroux notes that, for all the clamor about the radical sweep made by the electorate in the recent midterm elections, 94 percent of those who sought re-election were successful. This was, however, a drop from the 98 percent plus rate in 2004.
Does anyone remember the 1994 re-election rates? I think it was 34 incumbent democrats lost and 17 open democratic seats were lost, but I’ve slept since that election and am not sure of my facts.
Yeah, I made the same observation in the immediate aftermath of the election. Also, that most of the Democratic challengers who were veterans of Iraq or Afghanistan (and ran against the war in Iraq) lost.
How that translates into a mandate for anything but incumbency I have no idea.