ANSWERS

1. George W. Bush, in 2002

Question 1: The president’s party has gained seats in both chambers only in 1934 and 2002. In 2002, Republicans picked up eight seats in the House, making this one of three mid-term elections in which the party of the incumbent president did not lose seats in either the House or the Senate (the other two being 1934 and 1998). In 1998, Democrats gained House seats but no Senate seats, which is why it isn’t the answer.

2. He was facing impeachment proceedings (over the Monica Lewinsky scandal)

3. George W. Bush said "thumpin'" in 2006. Barack Obama said "shellacking" in 2010.

Question 3: Obama’s 2010 “shellacking” is like Bush’s 2006 “thumping”, according to CBS News.

4. The "six-year itch"

5. Newt Gingrich

6. Nancy Pelosi

7. Massachusetts (Governor Elbridge Gerry). The district was said to look like a salamander.

8. The 17th Amendment. The first regular nationwide popular Senate elections were in 1914.

9. Class II

10. 437. One extra seat each was added for the new states of Alaska and Hawaii until the 1960 census reapportionment took effect.

Question 10: Congress temporarily added one new Representative for each state in the 86th and 87th Congresses (1959-1963), bringing the total number of Representatives in the House to 437.

11. The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico

Question 11: The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico is the only member of the United States House of Representatives who is elected every four years instead of a two-year term.

12. Ranked-choice voting. Jared Golden won.

Question 12: This was the first general election in Maine for which ranked-choice voting was law, and this race was the first in U.S. history where the process was used to decide a congressional election.

13. Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib

14. 15 ballots. The last time before that was 1923.

Question 14: McCarthy garnered enough votes on the 15th ballot to become House speaker, marking the first time since 1923 that a speakership election took more than one ballot.  

15. Ronald Reagan

16. A lame-duck session

17. 36

18. Herschel Walker lost to Raphael Warnock

19. Sarah Palin

20. John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon