U.S. Election Update: 21 of 24 Democratic House Candidates Supported by Mike Bloomberg Poised to Win — 15 are Women

Mike Bloomberg issued this statement on the Democrats winning the U.S. House of Representatives:
“By winning the House, Democrats can now serve as a bulwark against a White House that has shown no respect for the rule of law – and no interest in bringing the country together. The Democrats’ gains demonstrate that the American people want Congress to stand up to a reckless, divisive president – and to work across the aisle to tackle tough issues. Millions of Americans poured their hearts into the campaign to retake the House – and I was proud to be a part of the effort. We can do better in America today, and we must start now.”

Bloomberg spent more than $110 million to elect Democrats. Key points of the strategy included:

Go Big, Go Early on Digital – Independence USA’s paid media strategy was comprised of an early heavy digital program. After Republicans dramatically outspent Democrats on digital ads in 2016, Bloomberg made the decision to invest heavily in an early digital program aimed at both persuasion and mobilization. He supported the largest digital program to support Democrats this cycle – a $12 million program which included over 5,000 creative variations.

Go Big, Go Late on TV – Independence USA spent $45M on television in the last two weeks, much of it in very expensive markets, thus freeing up partner resources to focus elsewhere.

In God We Trust, Everyone Else Bring Data – Data played an important role in Independence USA’s spending this cycle. Polling, modeling, ad testing, digital performance data and qualitative research informed both messaging and targeting. In addition, data and lessons learned that were gathered from the digital program informed television strategy.

Read more about the results of Mike Bloomberg’s Independence USA strategy here.

How Democrats Won the House (Washington Post)
Republican efforts were “swamped in the final weeks” by Mike Bloomberg who “would invest more than $115 million of his own money in the Democratic cause, most of it in the final weeks, including about $44 million into the House campaigns.” “It’s a backbreaker in a lot of races,” said a senior Republican official.

Without any donors to answer to, Bloomberg went into the most expensive suburban media markets, in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. He also had money to experiment. Howard Wolfson, a former Democratic House strategist who ran the Bloomberg effort, ranked all the districts by educational attainment, in a search for highly educated districts that might have flown under the radar.

How Trump’s Energy, Excesses Drove GOP’s Erratic Campaign (Associated Press)
Mike Bloomberg’s influx of cash caught Republicans off guard and opened a fundraising deficit that the GOP couldn’t come close to making up. “It was a real game changer,” said Corry Bliss, who runs a super PAC aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan. “It would have been manageable without that.”

Scenes From the U.S. Election (New York Times)
Some money went to races that aren’t on the national radar. Michael Bloomberg’s super PAC, Independence USA, spent more than $400,000 on TV ads boosting Kendra Horn, a Democrat, in Oklahoma’s Fifth District, a race that saw its first significant super PAC spending during the last week of October.

U.S. Elects Record Number of Women to House of Representatives (Bloomberg)
Women won more seats than ever before in the U.S. House after a record number of female candidates were on ballots across the country, fueled by Democratic opposition to President Donald Trump.

Stinging Rust Belt Defeats Are a 2020 Warning for Trump as Democrats Gain in Decisive 2016 States (Bloomberg)
Democrats in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan swept the races for Senate and governor, and picked up valuable House seats, defeating Trump-backed Republicans at all levels. Whether it’s a fleeting backlash or a long-term political shift remains to be seen, but the outcome in those key states is enough to give Republicans heartburn.

Gun Sense Majority: Gun Sense Majority: Everytown for Gun Safety Defeats NRA, Achieves Major Federal and State Electoral Victories (Everytown press release)
Gun Sense Candidates Won in States Including Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island

How Donald Trump, Guns and Cash Spelled an End to Colorado Representative Mike Coffman’s Decade in Congress (Colorado Sun)
How a candidate deemed “virtually bulletproof” two years ago was undone by President Donald Trump, outside spending and a challenger impervious to attacks.

Washington State Voters Pass Ballot Measure to Further Regulate Guns, including Semi-automatic Rifles (The Seattle Times)

Parkland Survivor Sends ‘Thoughts and Prayers’ to Defeated NRA-backed Candidates (USA Today)

From Axios: A Night of Firsts
At least 111 women were elected last night, including:
-40 women of color who are headed to the House.
-The first female senator from Tennessee.
-The first female governors of South Dakota and Maine.
-Michelle Lujan Grisham is the first Democratic Latina elected as a governor.
-33 congressional races featured two women facing off against each other, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

Other firsts:
-Deb Haaland of New Mexico is the first Native American woman in the House.
-Rashida Tlaib of Michigan is the first Muslim congresswoman.
-Ilhan Omar of Minnesota is the first Somali-American congresswoman.
-Jared Polis of Colorado is the first openly gay man to win a governor’s race.
-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, 29, is the youngest woman ever elected to Congress
-Sharice Davids of Kansas is the first lesbian Native American in Congress.
-Ayanna Pressley is the first black woman elected to Congress from Massachusetts.
-Sylvia Garcia and Veronica Escobar became the first two Latinas elected to Congress from Texas tonight.
-Chris Pappas is New Hampshire’s first openly gay member of Congress.

Best of late night.

“According to The New York Times, President Trump hosted a small reception with his friends tonight to watch the election results — from 2016.”
— Seth Meyers

“All day it felt like America was in the doctor’s office waiting for our S.T.D. results to come back.”
— Jimmy Kimmel

“No matter what the outcome, whether you’re a Republican or Democrat, I think we can all agree that the big loser this year is all of our Thanksgiving dinners.”
— Jimmy Kimmel

For more best of late night from the New York Times, click here.