Elections Bring Broad Bipartisan Victories for ANCA Endorsed Candidates

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 ANCA Congratulates President-Elect Trump; Recognizes Strong Campaign Run by Secretary Clinton. WASHINGTON—More than 93 percent of the Congressional candidates backed by the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) prevailed in Tuesday’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.

To see the complete ANCA Report Cards from the 114th Congress, visit: anca.org/report-card

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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

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