WASHINGTON, DC – Over 93% of the Congressional candidates backed by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) prevailed in yesterday’s hard-fought elections, as U.S. voters elected Donald Trump President and maintained Republican majorities in the Senate and House.
“We congratulate Donald Trump on his victory, commend Secretary Clinton on a hard-fought campaign, and thank Armenian American voters who went to the polls in record numbers to back federal, state, and local candidates who champion issues of special concern to our community,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “We look forward to getting to work right away in engaging with the Trump Administration and the incoming Congress to make progress on the full range of the Armenian American community’s public policy priorities.”
“We were greatly gratified to see such a large percentage of our Congressional endorsees win their races, including powerful advocates such as Maryland Senator Elect Chris Van Hollen, House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, Representatives Adam Schiff, Frank Pallone, David Valadao, Jackie Speier, and many others.”
On the Senate side, 7 out of 11 ANCA endorsed candidates emerged victorious, including Senior New York Senator Charles Schumer, a long-time advocate of Armenian Genocide justice, who is slated to replace the retiring Harry Reid (D-NV) as Senate Democratic Leader. Also re-elected were Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a strong supporter of demining efforts in Nagorno Karabakh and Foreign Affairs Committee member Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain (R-AZ), who were instrumental in Committee passage of Armenian Genocide legislation in 2014. Also winning re-election were Senators Brian Schatz (D-HI) and Michael Bennett (D-CO). Long-time Armenian American issues advocate, Maryland Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D), will succeed retiring Senator Barbara Mikulski. Illinois Senator Mark Kirk (R), a champion on U.S. assistance to Artsakh and Armenia and a lead sponsor of Armenian Genocide legislation lost a hard-fought re-election bid to challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D). Other ANCA endorsed Senate candidates who were unsuccessful in their Senate election bids were Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), Rep. Joe Heck (R-NV) and former Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI).
On the House side, the ANCA endorsed 122 candidates, of which only 5 were reported to have lost their election bids. Congressional Armenian Caucus Co-Chairs Frank Pallone (D-NJ), Jackie Speier (D-CA) and David Valadao (R-CA) won their elections comfortably, while Illinois Congressman Robert Dold (R) lost re-election in a tightly contested race. Armenian Caucus Vice-Chairs Adam Schiff (D-CA) and David Trott (R-MI) won re-election handily.
The two Armenian American Members of Congress – California Democrats Anna Eshoo and Jackie Speier – each won broad support of the electorate, but Republican Danny Tarkanian, who sought election in Nevada’s third Congressional district fell short by 1%.
Among the key House races that the ANCA was following throughout the evening included House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI), House Appropriations Committee Ranking Democrat Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Armed Services Committee Ranking Democrat Adam Smith (D-WA), all of whom emerged victorious. Other important House races included House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce (R-CA) and Ranking Democrat Eliot Engel (D-NY), lead authors of the Royce-Engel Karabakh peace initiative, and Committee members Chris Smith (R-NJ), Brad Sherman (D-CA), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), David Cicilline (D-RI), Karen Bass (D-CA), Alan Lowenthal (D-CA), Ted Deutch (D-FL), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Albio Sires (D-NJ), Grace Meng (D-NY) and Daniel Donovan (R-NY) – all of whom won re-election.
Among the House races in which ANCA endorsed candidates were not successful were those involving New Jersey Republican Scott Garrett, Nevada Republican Cresent Hardy, and Florida Republican John Mica.
Unprecedented Armenian American Community and Campaign Outreach:
In over 30 states and hundreds of Congressional Districts across the United States in which the ANCA endorsed candidates ran, the ANCA sent hundreds of thousands of customized e-mail messages and shared specialized social media posts with Armenian American voters. These messages featured the ANCA grade for each candidate, news about whether the ANCA has endorsed their campaign, and a listing of ANCA records and ratings for their state’s full Congressional delegation.
The ANCA’s final push built upon months of voter registration campaigns and community education and empowerment programs – led with the remarkably successful ANCA Western Region Hye Votes campaign. ANCA regional and local activists volunteered on campaigns and encouraged candidates to fill out the ANCA Candidate Questionnaire.
A key element of this effort, as in years past, has been ANCA Congressional Report Cards, a detailed review and rating of the records of each Congressional incumbent on more than a dozen individual legislative initiatives of special concern to Armenian American voters.
Click here to see the complete ANCA Report Cards from the 114th Congress.
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Listing of ANCA Endorsed 2016 Congressional Candidates and Election Results
** Ordered by State, then by Senate and Congressional District.
** Names are listed as follows: District, Name, (Party)
Arizona
Sen. John McCain (R) – won
3 Raul Grijalva (D) – won
Arkansas
4 Bruce Westerman (R) – won
California
Senate: Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D) – defeated
1 Doug LaMalfa (R) – won
3 John Garamendi (D) – won
4 Tom McClintock (R) – won
6 Doris Matsui (D) – won
10 Jeff Denham (R) – won
11 Mark DeSaulnier (D) – won
12 Nancy Pelosi (D) – won
13 Barbara Lee (D) – won
14 Jackie Speier (D) – won
16 Jim Costa (D) – won
18 Anna Eshoo (D) – won
19 Zoe Lofgren (D) – won
21 David Valadao (R) – won
22 Devin Nunes (R) – won
25 Steve Knight (R) – won
27 Judy Chu (D) – won
28 Adam Schiff (D) – won
29 Tony Cardenas (D) – won
30 Brad Sherman (D) – won
32 Grace Napolitano (D) – won
33 Ted Lieu (D) – won
37 Karen Bass (D) – won
38 Linda Sanchez (D) – won
39 Edward Royce (R) – won
40 Lucille Roybal-Allard (D) – won
47 Alan Lowenthal (D) – won
48 Dana Rohrabacher (R) – won
Colorado
Sen. Michael Bennet (D) – won
1 Diana DeGette (D) – won
2 Jared Polis (D) – won
4 Ken Buck (R) – won
6 Rep. Mike Coffman (R) – won
7 Edwin Perlmutter (D) – won
Connecticut
2 Joe Courtney (D) – won
District of Columbia
AL Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) – won
Florida
Sen. Marco Rubio (R) – won
7 John Mica (R) – defeated
10 Daniel Webster (R) – won
12 Gus Bilirakis (R) – won
21 Ted Deutch (D) – won
22 Lois Frankel (D) – won
Georgia
4 Hank Johnson (D) – won
5 John Lewis (D) – won
11 Barry Loudermilk (R) – won
Hawaii
Sen. Brian Schatz (D) – won
Illinois
Sen. Mark Kirk (R) – defeated
3 Daniel Lipinski (D) – won
5 Mike Quigley (D) – won
6 Peter Roskam (R) – won
7 Danny Davis (D) – won
9 Janice Schakowsky (D) – won
10 Robert Dold (R) – defeated
Kentucky
3 John Yarmuth (D) – won
Maine
1 Chellie Pingree (D) – won
Maryland
Senate: Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D) – won
3 John Sarbanes (D) – won
8 Jamie Raskin (D) – won
Massachusetts
1 Richard Neal (D) – won
2 James McGovern (D) – won
3 Niki Tsongas (D) – won
4 Joe Kennedy (D) – won
5 Katherine Clark (D) – won
6 Seth Moulton (D) – won
7 Michael Capuano (D) – won
8 Stephen Lynch (D) – won
Michigan
7 Tim Walberg (R) – won
8 Mike Bishop (R) – won
9 Sander Levin (D) – won
11 David Trott (R) – won
13 John Conyers (D) – won
14 Brenda Lawrence (D) – won
Minnesota
1 Timothy Walz (D) – won
4 Betty McCollum (D) – won
7 Collin Peterson (D) – won
Nebraska
1 Jeff Fortenberry (R) – won
Nevada
Senate: Rep. Joe Heck (R) – defeated
1 Dina Titus (D) – won
3 Danny Tarkanian (R) – defeated
4 Cresent Hardy (R) – defeated
New Jersey
2 Frank LoBiondo (R) – won
4 Christopher Smith (R) – won
5 Scott Garrett (R) – defeated
6 Frank Pallone (D) – won
7 Leonard Lance (R) – won
8 Albio Sires (D) – won
11 Rodney Frelinghuysen (R) – won
New York
Sen. Charles Schumer (D) – won
4 Kathleen Rice (D) – won
6 Grace Meng (D) – won
7 Nydia Velazquez (D) – won
11 Daniel Donovan (R) – won
12 Carolyn Maloney (D) – won
14 Joseph Crowley (D) – won
16 Eliot Engel (D) – won
17 Nita Lowey (D) – won
18 Sean Patrick Maloney (D) – won
20 Paul Tonko (D) – won
North Carolina
6 Mark Walker (R) – won
9 Robert Pittenger (R) – won
10 Patrick McHenry (R) – won
Ohio
2 Brad Wenstrup (R) – won
14 David Joyce (R) – won
Oregon
3 Earl Blumenauer (D) – won
5 Kurt Schrader (D) – won
Rhode Island
1 David Cicilline (D) – won
2 James Langevin (D) – won
South Carolina
7 Tom Rice (R) – won
Tennessee
1 Phil Roe (R) – won
6 Diane Lynn Black (R) – won
Texas
14 Randy Weber (R) – won
35 Lloyd Doggett (D) – won
Vermont
Sen. Patrick Leahy (D) – won
AL Peter Welch (D) – won
Virginia
7 Dave Brat (R) – won
8 Don Beyer (D) – won
Washington
1 Suzan DelBene (D) – won
9 Adam Smith (D) – won
Wisconsin
Senate: Russ Feingold (D) – defeated
1 Paul Ryan (R) – won
5 F. James Sensenbrenner (R) – won