Hawaii Congressional Delegation How They Voted Nov 9 2026

By GovTrack .us @ 5:06 PM :: 200 Views :: Congressional Delegation

Holding Democrats Accountable

By Amy West GovTrack.us, Nov. 9, 2026

Because the party with the most seats in each chamber, called the “majority party,” sets the legislative agenda on the floor and in almost every committee, our updates have focused primarily on Republicans in recent years. To track Congress, we have to track what’s actually happening and who’s making it happen. Democrats have often had little to do with that in the last few years.

Now that we know that the Democrats will gain control of both chambers of Congress, estimated 259-176 in the House and 55-45 in the Senate, starting January 3, 2027 with the 120th Congress, our focus will appear to shift.

Just as our prior focus on Republicans reflected the reality of who has been setting the legislative agenda, the upcoming switch to holding Democrats accountable and less attention given to the Republican minority doesn’t reflect our personal views on their policies.

For example, we do not expect the House and Senate ethics committees to suddenly become more effective because there’s been a change in the majority party. Democrats should make the ethics committees more effective — and signs already show they won’t. A bipartisan bill introduced last year would increase the vote threshold for censure. This bill had been introduced as a putative solution to the problem (and it is a problem) of censures being used for purely partisan gain by making it harder for legislators to be censured. But the solution here is not to make censure harder. It’s to better manage partisanship.

Our colleagues at the First Branch Forecast wrote recently about the lack of transparency in Democratic party efforts to determine who runs the party’s congressional caucuses and why the opacity of this work matters.

We aren’t expecting to see likely-Speaker-to-be Jeffries use current Speaker Johnson’s tactic of simply sending everyone home for recess to avoid confrontation. However, in another example, it seems entirely plausible that the Democratic Speaker of the House will continue the trend of centralizing power over the floor agenda in the Speaker’s office, only allowing bills supported by the Democratic establishment to come to the floor.

Also, the sheer volume of new Democratic legislators coming from previously Republican districts also means we can expect some wrangling, if not petty obstruction, between the progressive and moderate factions of Democratic caucus over their priorities and how much to compromise with the minority party, i.e. the Republican legislators, and with President Trump.

Right now, there are about 26 House races still to be called and two Senate races. This article and regularly updating chart from National Public Radio is a handy guide to see what’s left. In any case, you won’t see much change on GovTrack until January 3 when the election winners take office.

But note that Senator-elect Sherrod Brown will be sworn in soon because he was elected by special election to fill the remainder of the term of the seat originally vacated by Vice President Vance.

Weekly Updates

Nov. 9, 2026, 5:31 p.m. — Vote

Motion to Invoke Cloture: Motion to Proceed to H.R. 2347

Cloture on the Motion to Proceed Agreed to 73/25

Sen. Hirono [D-HI]: Nay

Sen. Schatz [D-HI]: Yea

Trackers: Roll Call Votes.

Nov. 9, 2026, 6:59 p.m. — Vote

H.R. 3978: Nuclear REFUEL (Recycling Efficient Fuels Utilizing Expedited Licensing) Act

Passed 397/2

Rep. Case [D-HI1]: Yea

Rep. Tokuda [D-HI2]: Yea