The following summarizes the total length of service of the current members of the House and Senate.
| Years of service | Senate | House |
|---|---|---|
| 0 – 6 | 26% | 45% |
| More than 6, fewer than 12 | 37 | 27 |
| More than 12, fewer than 18 | 18 | 12 |
| More than 18, fewer than 24 | 8 | 6 |
| More than 24, fewer than 30 | 7 | 7 |
| More than 30 | 4 | 3 |
63% of the current members of the Senate and 72% of the current members of the House have served for less than 12 years.
The longest serving member of the House of Representatives and the Congress as a whole, in history, was John Dingell of Michigan who retired having served for 59 years and 21 days. The longest serving member of the Senate was Robert Byrd of West Virginia, who died in office having served for 57 years and 176 days.
Approval of the Congress is down roughly 7 points from where it was a year ago and disapproval is up 8 points.
| Approve | Disapprove | |
|---|---|---|
| Real Clear Pol. 6/15/22 | 21.2% | 69.0% |
| Real Clear Pol. 5/17/22 | 22.4% | 68.0% |
| Real Clear Pol. 4/16/22 | 22.2% | 67.5% |
| Real Clear Pol. 3/15/22 | 21.8% | 67.8% |
| Real Clear Pol. 2/18/22 | 20.8% | 68.3% |
| Real Clear Pol. 1/17/22 | 22.4% | 66.4% |
| Real Clear Pol. 12/21/21 | 23.0% | 65.8% |
| 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% |
The House of Representatives
Washington Watch uses the Cook Political Report for its report on elections in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Currently:
- Democrats – 220 seats
- Republicans – 208 seats
- Vacancies – 7 seats
As of 6/15/2022, there are currently 55 seats in which House incumbents have announced they are not running for re-election. 23 of those seats are currently held by Republicans and 32 by Democrats.
| Democrat | Republican | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Solid Democrat | 162 | Solid Republican | 188 |
| Likely Dem | 13 | Likely GOP | 11 |
| Lean Dem | 13 | Lean GOP | 10% |
| Dem Toss up | 23 | GOP Toss up | 9 |
| Total | 211 | Total | 218 |
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
Six U.S. Senators are retiring from public office; 1 Democrat and 5 Republicans. None are running for other office.
| Democrats | Republicans | Independent | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seats not up in 2022 | 34 | 30 | 2 |
| Safe in 2022 | 9 | 14 | |
| Padilla | Murkowski | ||
| Murray | AL – open | ||
| Blumenthal | Boozman | ||
| Schatz | Grassley | ||
| Duckworth | Crapo | ||
| Van Hollen | Young | ||
| Schumer | Moran | ||
| Wyden | Paul | ||
| Open (Leahy) | Kennedy | ||
| Hoeven | |||
| Lankford | |||
| Scott | |||
| Thune | |||
| Lee | |||
| Likely | 1 | 3 | |
| Bennet | Rubio | ||
| MO – open | |||
| OH – open | |||
| Lean | 1 | 1 | |
| Hassan | NC – open | ||
| Toss Up | 3 | 1 | |
| Cortez Masto | Johnson | ||
| Warnock | PA – open | ||
| Kelly |