ALEXANDRIA, Va. — The National Association of Chain Drug Stores says the results of this year’s congressional elections bode well for community pharmacy.

In a letter to the association’s chain members, NACDS president and chief executive officer Steve Anderson reports that 92% of the candidates considered to be pro-pharmacy or pro-business won their contests for the House of Representatives and 93% of the Senate candidates who supported the association’s causes won their races.

Anderson explains that in determining candidates to support, NACDS-PAC considers a host of criteria, including the candidate’s position or voting record on issues affecting the growth and sustainability of pharmacy; the integrity and character of the candidate; the candidate’s leadership or policy-shaping position within his or her party; and the presence of NACDS members in a candidate’s state or district.

The association’s political action committee raised and contributed more than $900,000 during the 2011-2012 election cycle.

All told, the NACDS-PAC supported 87 candidates for the House and 15 candidates for the Senate. The candidates included 57 Republicans and 45 Democrats.

Among NACDS-PAC-supported candidates for the House of Representatives, 77 candidates won, seven candidates lost, and the races of three candidates remain undecided.

Among NACDS-PAC-supported candidates for the Senate, 14 candidates won and one candidate lost.

In his letter, Anderson stresses that NACDS still has a lot of work to do to ensure that its agenda remains on the top of lawmakers’ minds. “With at least 74 new members of Congress headed to Washington, D.C., our efforts to educate Congress about the value of pharmacy will prove vital,” he says.