Builders vs. Dividers: Who Fared Better in Elections?

We know Republicans swept the Senate and the House of Representatives, but how did Builders fare?

For each of the four weeks leading up to the election, our Builders Power Rankings explored public statements, legislative work, and even election ads to rank congresspeople as Builders (demonstrating respectful disagreement and multi-partisan problem-solving) or Dividers (those seeming to do the opposite). 

This wasn’t meant to be a firm, hard-and-fast ranking; it was meant to spark conversation. It was meant to help us imagine a world in which we focused less on political allegiances and more on how we disagreed with each other — to help us imagine a world in which divisive approaches were considered our opponents. 

So how did congressional Builders do? 

Among representatives up for reelection, 82% of Builders reclaimed their seats versus 100% of Dividers. Remember, 95% of incumbents were re-elected this election, putting Builders significantly below that benchmark. 

While more Democratic Builders than Republican ones were reelected to congress, statistically, Republicans performed slightly better than Democrats, with 11 out of 13 Republicans winning their races (84.5%) compared to 12 out of 15 Democrats (80%).

But it’s not all doom and gloom for Builders. Notably, Oregon Representative Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a #1 Republican Builder with a 3-week winning streak, was appointed to President-Elect Trump’s cabinet as Labor Secretary.

Why did Builders perform worse than Dividers? And what should we make of that? 

We know that aggressive, polarizing approaches tend to get more attention from the media (something we’ve studied). That outsized attention can translate into more influence. Also, America’s toxic polarization means that leaders who take more divisive approaches will tend to get more support from their passionate and frustrated allies. 

(We aren’t saying polarization-related factors are the only factors; voting patterns and results are complex.)

The good news is that we have the power to change the incentives in government. It’s up to us to reward politicians for being Builders and to put them in the penalty box when they’re sowing discord. We promise to keep serving you tools to help do that.

What do you think? 

For those of you who looked at the rankings or watched the panel discussions, we’d love to hear your thoughts. What did you like? Do you think we could have done better? Send us your thoughts. 

The power of Power Rankings

Some more Power Rankings stats:

• 250,000 Americans viewed the rankings leading up to the elections
• 12 panelists, from Joe Lonsdale to Karl Rove to Malynda Hale, weighed in 
• 5 elected representatives shared their Builders status with pride
• 2M+ views on social media posts about Power Rankings
• 6 national and 3 local stories covered this, including our national debut on Pivot, and a Deseret News piece

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