There will be at least 18 people headed to Congress who could count as members of a science caucus -- meaning they have backgrounds in STEM fields or have demonstrated support for STEM issues. (Ten of the 18 are incumbents.) And this number could grow — another five races featuring candidates with STEM backgrounds haven't been called yet.
In general, science candidates performed better than expected. Three of the winners -- Elaine Luria in the Virginia 2nd, Joe Cunningham in the South Carolina 1st and Steve Watkins in the Kansas 2nd -- weren’t favored by our forecast going in. It's worth noting, though, that this block is unlikely to all vote the same way: Two are Republicans and one is a pro-life Democrat. As a country, we still haven't decided what it means to be a science candidate -- or whether it means anything at all.