North Carolina voted out potentially 58 years of experience. What does that mean?
North Carolina voters decimated their current congressional delegation, electing at least seven new members to the next Congress, and potentially losing 58 years of collective experience. “Congress runs on seniority, and we just lost a lot of seniority from the North Carolina congressional delegation,” said Chris Cooper, a political science professor from Western Carolina University. From the best committee assignments to pork projects to offices on the Hill, losing senior members could have ripple effects for North Carolinians. But all is not lost. “The entire Congress runs based on a combination of majority party control and seniority,” Cooper said. “So North Carolina will once again be aligned with the majority.” North Carolina chose to swap seven House Republicans for seven House Democrats, as the left-leaning party took control of both chambers. “The majority of North Carolina’s congressional delegation will once again be aligned with the majority party control, but in terms of seniority, we will be much lower down the list,” Cooper said. “Sometimes freshmen can get impressive committee assignments. (Rep.) Chuck Edwards ended up on Appropriations in his first term in office, so it doesn’t mean that you can’t be effective, or you can’t get a good committee assignment.
