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| 2006
Midterm Elections |
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The
elections in which Americans vote for their
congressional representatives, but not for president,
are known as midterm elections. They occur every
four years. On November 7, 2006, Americans will
elect members of the House of Representatives
to two-year terms and about one-third of their
senators to six-year terms. Thirty-six states
also will elect governors in 2006.
Currently the Republican Party holds
a small majority of seats in both houses of
Congress (the House of Representatives and
the Senate). Because Congress has the power
to pass laws and controls federal funding
authorizations, the outcome of the midterm
elections could affect significantly U.S.
policies and how they are carried out. |
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Washington -- Americans of diverse racial
and ethnic origins and religious beliefs are seeking political
office in the 2006 elections. They uphold a tradition of political
pluralism and participation that dates to the founding of
the United States.
From 1788, when Pennsylvanians elected three
German Americans to the First Congress, to 2006, when the
mayors of the nation’s three largest cities -- New
York, Los Angeles and Chicago -- boast of Jewish-, Mexican-
and Irish-American heritage, and the mayor of the fifth
(Philadelphia) is an African American, Americans have elected
as their representatives men and women of all races, ethnicities
and creeds.
Several African Americans are major party
candidates for some of the 33 contested U.S. Senate seats
this year. They include Republican Lieutenant Governor Michael
Steele in Maryland and Democrats Erik Fleming in Mississippi
and U.S. Representative Harold Ford Jr. in Tennessee.
Fifty-one black candidates are running this
year for seats in the 435-member House of Representatives.
In Massachusetts, former U.S. Assistant Attorney General
Deval Patrick is favored to become Massachusetts' first
African-American governor.
Female candidates continue to enjoy success
at the polls. Fourteen women currently serve in the Senate,
and 12 (including six incumbents) are on the 2006 ballot.
There were 138 female members of the House of Representatives
in the 109th Congress.
At the state level, six women are running
for governor -- including candidates in Alaska and Massachusetts.
Rutgers University's Center for American Women and Politics
reports a record 2,431 women are running for state legislative
seats.
These figures reflect steady efforts by
both major political parties to attract candidates that
will appeal to an increasingly diverse population.
Some minority groups are entering the political
arena in greater numbers. Although Hispanic Americans are
the nation's largest minority group, many have not yet reached
the voting age of 18. Even so, two Hispanics were elected
to the Senate in 2004, and 27 currently serve in the House
of Representatives.
In September, a national Latino conference
held in Los Angeles pledged to recruit 1 million new Hispanic
voters. Louis DeSipio, a political scientist at the University
of California at Irvine,praised the strategy. "Marches
can get people's attention, but it doesn't necessarily get
a higher percentage of the community involved in civic participation.
That's what things like get-out-the-vote and voter registration
drives do," he told the Los Angeles Times.
Both the Arab and Muslim communities in
the United States (which partially overlap) have launched
voter-registration drives and increased financial donations
to political campaigns. Fully 84 percent of registered Muslims
cast ballots in the 2004 election, a rate significantly
higher than the national average.
Four Christian Arab Americans currently
serve in the House of Representatives and one in the Senate.
In 2006, candidates in Michigan and Texas hope to join them.
In Minnesota, congressional candidate Keith Ellison is favored
to win his House race and become the nation’s highest-ranking
Muslim elected official.
Asian Americans also are increasing their
political presence. By 2005, some 550 Asians held political
office, including two senators and five U.S. representatives.
In a notable local 2005 contest, Korean American Jun Choi
defeated a four-time incumbent en route to becoming mayor
of Edison, New Jersey, the state’s fifth largest municipality.
Like most officeholders, ethnic political
leaders typically begin their careers in neighborhood or
local office. As the more successful move on to state or
national office they must appeal to and represent the interests
of many diverse groups.
In Massachusetts, for instance, Deval Patrick
has called for an "education renaissance" among
African Americans, but as candidate for governor he promises
full-day kindergarten and early education for all the state’s
3- and 4-year-olds.
For more information, see 2006
Midterm Elections.
Michael Jay Friedman
Washington File Staff Writer
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