Sorry, Internet, SOPA had zero effect on election day results

Blockage of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) may have served as the Web's defining political moment of the year, but the anti-SOPA movement appears to have had little to no effect on Congressional elections, with 21 out of 23 SOPA supporters hanging on to their seats.

Defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was easily the most important political event of the year for the Internet. But it didn’t make much of a difference on election day. Of the 23 House Members up for reelection who co-sponsored or otherwise supported the highly contentious anti-piracy legislation, all but two won reelection on Tuesday. This includes Republican Rep. Lamar Smith, of Texas, SOPA’s author and chief co-sponsor who became the Internet’s Enemy No. 1 after disparaging the SOPA opposition movement late last year.

Even the two Representatives defeated on November 6 – Reps. Joe Baca and Mary Bono Mack, both of California – appear to have lost for much more mainstream reasons: things like gun control and budgets. In short, there is little reason to believe that SOPA had any effect whatsoever on the 2012 election – something that seemed unthinkable among the millions Internet activists who helped push SOPA off the table. The backlash against SOPA became so feared in Washington that “getting SOPA’d” became synonymous with a public revolt against particular legislation.

“Nobody wants another SOPA moment,” Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah told Politico in March. “The nerds are more powerful than anyone thought, and the tech industry flexed its muscle like never before.”

If Tuesday’s election was any indication, all that nerd power is gone. Below is a complete list of how SOPA supporters in Congress fared on election day: 

California

• Rep. Brad Sherman – Reelected
• Rep. Adam Schiff – Reelected
• Rep. Judy Chu – Reelected
• Rep. Karen Bass – Reelected
• Rep. Joe Baca – Defeated
• Rep. Mary Bono Mack – Defeated

Connecticut

• Rep. John Larson – Reelected

Florida

• Rep. Dennis Ross – Reelected
• Rep. Ted Deutch – Reelected
• Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz – Reelected

Georgia

• Rep. John Barrow – Reelected

Massachusetts

• Rep. Ed Markey – Reelected

Michigan

• Rep. John Conyers Jr. – Reelected

Mississippi

• Rep. Alan Nunnelee – Reelected

North Carolina

• Rep. Mel Watt – Reelected

Nevada

• Rep. Mark Amodei – Reelected

New York

• Rep. Pete King – Reelected
• Rep. Bill Owens – Reelected

Ohio

• Rep. Steve Chabot – Reelected

Pennsylvania

• Rep. Tom Marino – Reelected

Tennessee

• Rep. Jim Cooper – Reelected

Texas

• Rep. Lamar Smith – Reelected

Virginia

• Rep. Bob Goodlatte – Reelected

Source : digitaltrends[dot]com