Post Elections Thoughts and Update

As of Noon, Thursday, November 8, the Dems have won 27 seats that were Republican seats in the last term. Of those, 19 were won by Dems who defeated Incumbent Republicans and 8 were won by Dems for an open seats that had a Repulbican incumbent who did not run for re-election (think Tom Delay, Mark Foley)

Senate Update

Only two races left without a declared winner Montana and Virginia, both have Dems leading and are expected to be Dem seats, thereby giving the Dems almost a clean sweep in Federal Races. Harod Ford in TN seems to be the lone Dem Senate race that could have been a pick-up that wasn't. Not one Democratic Incumbent in the Senate or the House lost their seat.

Biggest Dissapointment in an otherwise great Election Night

New York State Senate Results

How is it possible that only one seat was picked up and we must try again in two years to pick up the final two seats needed to take control of the New York State Senate. I still believe that with the 60%+ victories at the top of the Tickets (Spitzer 69%, Clinton 66% ) and the 15%+ victories by Cuomo 17%, even Hevesi 17%), the inability to pick up more than this one race (where Andrea Stewart-Cousins had probably won this race 2 yearsa ago but for some voter fraud that gave Spano an 18 vote win) is a the lone negative mark on an otherwise great night. Why wouldn't Eliot Spitzer, with a war chest in the millions, not join the spirit of the USE IT OR LOSE IT campaign and donate even $100,000 to 7 or 8 competitive races. Races where the total raised by either candidate rarely exceeded $100,000...
Money Raised in NY State Senate Races

But, this was a great night and a lot of people need to sit back and take some moments to enjoy this moment. With last night’s decisive election, taking both the house and the Senate, the 'Conservative Ascendency' that began with Ronald Reagan in 1980 has come to an end, and I think, hope, that the rise of the 'Progressive Democratic Majority' has begun.

House Seat Overview:

From Daily Roll Call

Democrats who have defeated incumbent Republicans:


Arizona’s 5th: Harry Mitchell (D) 51 percent, J.D. Hayworth (R) 46 percent

California’s 11th: Jerry McNerney (D) 53 percent, Richard Pombo (R) 47 percent

Connecticut’s 5th: Chris Murphy (D) 56 percent, Nancy Johnson (R) 44 percent

Florida’s 22nd: Ron Klein (D) 51 percent, Clay Shaw (R) 47 percent

Indiana’s 2nd: Joe Donnelly (D) 54 percent, Chris Chocola (R) 46 percent

Indiana’s 8th: Brad Ellsworth (D) 61 percent, John Hostettler (R) 39 percent

Indiana’s 9th: Baron Hill (D) 49 percent, Mike Sodrel (R) 46 percent

Iowa’s 2nd: Dave Loebsack (D) 51 percent, Jim Leach (R) 49 percent

Kansas’ 2nd: Nancy Boyda (D) 51 percent, Jim Ryun (R) 47 percent

Kentucky’s 3rd: John Yarmuth (D) 51 percent, Anne Northup (R) 48 percent

Minnesota’s 1st: Tim Walz (D) 53 percent, Gil Gutknecht (R) 47 percent

New Hampshire’s 1st: Carol Shea-Porter (D) 51 percent, Jeb Bradley (R) 49 percent

New Hampshire’s 2nd: Paul Hodes (D) 53 percent, Charles Bass (R) 45 percent

New York’s 19th: John Hall (D) 51 percent, Sue Kelly (R) 49 percent

New York’s 20th: Kirsten Gillibrand (D) 53 percent, John Sweeney (R) 47 percent

North Carolina’s 11th: Heath Shuler (D) 54 percent, Charles Taylor (R) 46 percent

Pennsylvania’s 4th: Jason Altmire (D) 52 percent, Melissa Hart (R) 48 percent

Pennsylvania’s 7th: Joe Sestak (D) 56 percent, Curt Weldon (R) 44 percent

Pennsylvania’s 10th: Chris Carney (D) 53 percent, Don Sherwood (R) 47 percent


GOP open seats lost:


Arizona’s 8th: Gabrielle Giffords (D) 54 percent, Randy Graf (R) 42 percent

Florida’s 16th: Tim Mahoney (D) 49 percent, Mark Foley/Joe Negron (R) 48 percent

Colorado’s 7th: Ed Perlmutter (D) 55 percent, Rick O’Donnell (R) 42 percent

Iowa’s 1st: Bruce Braley (D) 55 percent, Mike Whalen (R) 43 percent

New York’s 24th: Michael Arcuri (D) 54 percent, Ray Meier (R) 45 percent

Ohio’s 18th: Zack Space (D) 62 percent, Joy Padgett (R) 38 percent

Texas’ 22nd: Nick Lampson (D) 52 percent, Shelley Sekula-Gibbs (R) 42 percent

Wisconsin’s 8th: Steve Kagen (D) 51 percent, John Gard (R) 49 percent


Key races still not called (incumbents are marked with *):


Connecticut’s 2nd: Joe Courtney (D) 117,434, Rob Simmons (R)* 117,211; 97 percent reporting

Georgia’s 8th: Jim Marshall (D)* 80,401, Mac Collins (R) 78,719; 98 percent reporting

Georgia’s 12th: John Barrow (D)* 69,991, Max Burns (R) 66,604; 96 percent reporting

New Mexico’s 1st: Heather Wilson (R)* 100,027, Patricia Madrid (D) 98,724; 99 percent reporting

Ohio’s 2nd: Jean Schmidt (R)* 113,932, Victoria Wulsin (D) 111,609; 100 percent reporting

Ohio’s 15th: Deborah Pryce (R)* 119,208, Mary Jo Kilroy (D) 107,947; 100 percent reporting

North Carolina’s 8th: Robin Hayes (R)* 60,500, Larry Kissell (D) 60,032; 100 percent reporting

Pennsylvania’s 6th: Jim Gerlach (R)* 118,807, Lois Murphy (D) 115,806; 100 percent reporting

Pennsylvania’s 8th: Patrick Murphy (D) 125,667, Michael Fitzpatrick (R)* 124,146; 100 percent reporting

Washington’s 8th: Dave Reichert (R)* 61,555, Darcy Burner 58,900; 31 percent reporting

Wyoming At-Large: Barbara Cubin (R)* 91,828, Gary Trauner (D) 91,006; 99 percent reporting