Winners With Asterisks?

The 116th Congress will convene 13 U.S. Senators who were most recently elected to the chamber with a plurality of the vote (seven Democrats and six Republicans) – dropping from 15 such lawmakers ending the 115th Congress. That marks the sixth consecutive congress with 10 or more senators who did not win the support of a majority of voters en route to their most recent term – the second longest stretch in history trailing only the first seven congresses that convened at the start of the direct election era (64th through 70th). In 2018, just two candidates were victorious with pluralities (the lowest level since 2004): Democrats Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona (49.9 percent) and Joe Manchin of West Virginia (49.6 percent). Five others came close, but were elected with majorities of less than 51 percent: Democrats Jackie Rosen (Nevada) and Jon Tester (Montana) and GOPers Ted Cruz (Texas), Mike Braun (Indiana), and Rick Scott (Florida).