Post-election facts about party shifts

This info was posted by Bill Lucey, a news librarian, who writes an informative blog called The Morning Delivery at http://www.billlucey.com/.  I’ve often noticed his efforts to add statistics and facts to a current event, which is what news librarians do for their newsrooms.

Here’s a taste from his entry:

“To put Tuesday’s midterm election into historical perspective, I compiled some facts and figures, showing how last night’s election compared with others, dating back to 1860.

• From 1860 to 2008, when the majority lost control of the House of Representatives, they lost an average of 49 or 14 percent of the total House seats

• From 1860 to 2008, when the majority lost control of the House of Representatives during a midterm election, they lost an average of 60 or 16 percent of the total House seats.

• The other times in history in which the House Majority flipped from one party to the other, while the Senate held their majority were in the years: 1874, 1880, 1882, 1888, 1890, 1910 and 1930.

• The only times in history when both Houses of Congress flipped majorities were in 1860, 1894, 1918, 1946, 1952, 1954,1994 and 2006.

• The only times in history when the Senate flipped its majority, but not in the House were in the years: 1878, 1892, 1912, 1932, 1980, 1986, and 2000.”

You can read the entire blog post here.