House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) won reelection in the midterm elections.
They were among the Democrat leaders in both chambers who won new terms.
Pelosi, 82, won with 81.4 percent of the vote in the race to represent California’s 11th Congressional District, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. She beat John Dennis, a Republican who called Pelosi “the ultimate swamp monster.”
Pelosi has been in Congress since 1987.
Schumer, 71, has been in Congress even longer, starting in the lower chamber in 1981 before advancing to the Senate in 1999.
Schumer won with 55 percent of the vote over Joe Pinion, 39, a journalist who had also argued it was time for fresh blood in Washington.
“To the people of New York: I am so proud and so humbled to be able to continue to fight to deliver real results for New York in the U.S. Senate. I’m honored to serve as your Senator, and I’ll never stop fighting for you!” Schumer said in a statement.
Nearly every other Democrat leader who was running for new terms won reelection.
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), 83, House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.), 82, House Assistant Speaker Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), 59, and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), 52, the Democratic Caucus chairman, enjoyed strong victories.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), 72, survived a scare, while Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.), 58, may have suffered defeat—Masto’s race, against former Nevada Attorney General Adam Laxalt, is too close to call.
Murray is the assistant Democratic leader in the Senate while Masto is the vice chair of outreach.
Republicans
Republican leaders who ran for new terms also won.House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), 57, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), 57, House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), 38, and House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Gary Palmer (R-Ala.), 68, easily won reelection.
Out of the six seats held by Republican Senate leaders, only one wasn’t involved in the election. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.), 72, the Republican Policy Committee chairman, decided to retire at the end of his current term.
Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, 47, a Republican, beat nurse Trudy Busch Valentine for the open seat.
Rep. Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), 61, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, also won another term.
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), 56, Emmer’s counterpart, might not survive.
Maloney was down about 15,500 votes to New York Assemblyman Mike Lawler with 734 of 774 precincts reporting, New York authorities reported as of early Wednesday.
Lawler had 52 percent of the vote to Maloney’s 45.7 percent.
Maloney famously switched from New York’s 18th Congressional District, which he currently represents, to New York’s 17th Congressional District, currently represented by Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), after redistricting dramatically reshaped some of the state’s districts.
Maloney beat state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi in the Democrat primary.
Jones, 35, in turn, shifted to New York’s 10th Congressional District, but was beaten by attorney Daniel Goldman in the primary. Goldman, who was involved in the impeachment effort against former President Donald Trump, won the general election with 79 percent of the vote.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), who currently represents the 10th district, decided to vie in the newly redrawn 12th district, and triumphed over Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) in a heated primary. Nadler won the general election with about 80 percent of the vote.
