Approval of the Congress was growing after the 2020 election but since mid-May it has been falling, and the decline continues.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
|---|---|---|
| Real Clear Pol. 11/30/21 | 22.2% | 68.6% |
| Real Clear Pol. 10/12/21 | 25.0% | 65.8% |
| Real Clear Pol. 9/1/21 | 28.5% | 60.3% |
| Real Clear Pol. 8/3/21 | 31.4% | 59.6% |
| Real Clear Pol. 6/15/21 | 28.8% | 60.5% |
| Real Clear Pol. 5/18/21 | 35.0% | 56.3% |
| Real Clear Pol. 5/4/21 | 36.3% | 55.5% |
| Real Clear Pol. 4/6/21 | 34.3% | 57.0% |
| Real Clear Pol. 3/2/21 | 29.7% | 60.0% |
| Real Clear Pol. 2/22/21 | 26.3% | 60.0% |
| Real Clear Pol. 1/5/21 | 18.7% | 70.3% |
The House of Representatives
Washington Watch uses the Cook Political Report for its report on elections in the U.S. House of Representatives.
House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy broke the record for the longest floor speech in at least 112 years, talking for 8 hours and 38 minutes. It was the longest continuous floor speech since at least 1909. The previous 21st century record was set by Speaker Pelosi in 2018, it was 8 hours and 7 minutes. [Mike Axios.com 11/19/21]
Currently:
- Democrats – 221 seats
- Republicans – 213 seats
- Vacancies – 1 seat
- FL – 20, special election 1/11/22 – Dem Seat
There are currently 30 seats in which incumbents have announced they are not running for re-election because they are either running for another office or retiring. 11 of those seats are currently held by Republicans and 19 by Democrats.
Four Republican members of the House and four Democratic members of the House are running for the U.S. Senate. Two Democratic members of the House and one Republican member of the House are running for governor. [Ballotpedia 12/1/21]
The Senate
WW uses Jessica Taylor of the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections for the Senate chart below. When those two organizations do not agree, WW uses Sabato as a tie breaker.]
- Republicans – 50
- Democrats – 48
- Independents – 2
| Democrats | Republicans | Independent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seats not up in 2022 | 34 | 30 | 2 |
| Safe in 2022 | 10 | 16 | |
| Padilla | Murkowski | ||
| Bennett | AL – open | ||
| Blumenthal | Boozman | ||
| Schatz | Grassley | ||
| Duckworth | Crapo | ||
| Van Hollen | Young | ||
| Schumer | Moran | ||
| Wyden | Paul | ||
| Open (Leahy) | Kennedy | ||
| Murray | MO – open | ||
| OH – open | |||
| Hoeven | |||
| Lankford | |||
| Scott | |||
| Thune | |||
| Lee | |||
| Likely | 0 | 1 | |
| Rubio | |||
| Lean | 2 | 2 | |
| Cortez | PA – open | ||
| Warnock | |||
| Toss Up | 2 | 1 | |
| Cortez | PA – open | ||
| Warnock |
Senator Krysten Sinema, when asked about news coverage that described the Arizona Democrat as a “political enigma”, she responded, “I don’t even know what enigma means, really. No one really does.” [WW – In case you are one of those people who don’t know what enigma means, here is a definition from Oxford Languages. “a person or thing that is mysterious, puzzling or difficult to understand.”]