How LDS Congressional Candidates Fared In The November 2010 General Election; Number Of Mormons In Congress Increases To 15

Update January 5th 2011: The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has now issued a report on its survey confirming that the new 112th Congress has 15 Mormons; see updated post HERE.

Update November 10th: The Mormon Times has now picked up on this story. Mormonism-Unveiled appreciates the recognition -- and the link.

On December 29th, 2008, I published a list of 14 known members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who serve in Congress.

With the November 2010 midterm elections just concluded, I decided it would be a good time to check up on how they fared. Of the 14, two senators were not up for re-election. The remaining 12 lawmakers were successfully re-elected. In addition, they have been joined by a 15th LDS member, Raul Labrador (R-ID). And they may be yet joined by a 16th member, David Harmer (R-CA), whose election is still too close to call. [Ed. Note: Harmer has now officially lost, so the number is set at 15.]

Source: Except where otherwise linked, Politico 2010 election map.

(1). U.S. Senate:

-- Michael Crapo (R-ID): Defeated Tom Sullivan (D) 71.1% to 25.0%

-- Harry Reid (D-NV): Defeated Sharron Angle (R) 50.2% to 44.6%

-- Tom Udall (D-NM): Not up for re-election until 2014.

-- Bob Bennett (R-UT): defeated at the Utah State Republican Convention in May; replaced by Mike Lee (R), who's also LDS and who defeated Sam Granato (D) 61.6% to 32.8%.

-- Orrin Hatch (R-UT): Not up for re-election until 2012.

(2). U.S. House:

-- [AZ HD6] Jeff Flake (R-AZ): Defeated Rebecca Schneider (D) 66.2% to 29.4%

-- [CA HD2] Wally Herger (R-CA): Defeated Jim Reed (D) 56.7% to 43.3%

-- [CA HD25] Howard McKeon (R-CA): Defeated Jackie Conaway (D) 61.7% to 38.3%

-- [ID HD2] Mike Simpson (R-ID): Defeated Mike Crawford (D) 68.8% to 24.4%

-- [NV HD2] Dean Heller (R-NV): Defeated Nancy Price (D) 63.3% to 32.6%

-- [UT HD1] Rob Bishop (R-UT): Defeated Morgan Bowen (D) 69.5% to 23.8%

-- [UT HD3] Jason Chaffetz (R-UT): Defeated Karen Hyer (D) 72.5% to 22.9%

-- [UT HD2] Jim Matheson (D-UT): Defeated Morgan Philpot (R) 50.7% to 45.9%

-- [American Samoa] Eni Faleomavaega (D) (non-voting delegate from American Samoa): Re-elected with 56.3% of the vote, defeating Aumua Amata (R), who received 36.6%

Additions:

-- [ID HD1] Raul Labrador (R-ID), who is LDS, defeated incumbent Democrat Walt Minnick 51.0% to 41.2%

-- In addition, there is one more U.S. House race involving a Mormon that is still too close to call. In California HD11, Republican David Harmer, identified as LDS, challenged Democratic incumbent Jerry McNerney. As of this post, Politico shows McNerney leading by 47.5% to 47.4%; this is only a 134-vote lead. There are tens of thousands of absentee ballots remaining to be counted.

-- Update November 12th: McNerney now leads Harmer by 1,685 votes, but there remain an estimated 11,000 votes yet to be counted in the four counties the 11th Congressional District covers: Alameda, San Joaquin, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties.

-- Update December 7th: Harmer formally concedes to McNerney, whose final margin of victory was 2,658 votes.

And finally, the lone member of the Community of Christ (formerly RLDS) in Congress, Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-IA), defeated Brad Zaun (R) 50.7% to 46.7%. I do not count Boswell on the list because the list is reserved for those belonging to the Utah-based LDS Church.