New Jersey state Sen. John Adler’s (D) win in retiring GOP Rep. Jim Saxton’s district has given Democrats a ninth takeover of Election Night and handed them a net gain of seven seats so far.
Adler defeated Republican Chris Myers in one of the most pitched open-seat battles of the 2008 cycle.
{mosads}Democrats have also won the open seats held by retiring GOP Reps. Rick Renzi (Ariz.), Tom Davis (Va.), James Walsh (N.Y.) and Jerry Weller (Ill.).
Against incumbents, they have knocked off Reps. Chris Shays (Conn.) and Robin Hayes (N.C.) after beginning the night by defeating Florida Reps. Ric Keller and Tom Feeney.
None of the races are considered major upsets, but they are good signs for Democrats in an Election Night with nearly three dozen tossups. Most of them are yet undecided.
Republicans have softened the blow by winning races against a pair of Democratic freshmen.
Democrats got some revenge in North Carolina and Connecticut against Hayes and Shays, respectively, and Democrat Dan Maffei won in a second go at Walsh’s seat. Republicans narrowly held all three seats in 2006.
Democrat Larry Kissell avenged a 300-plus-vote loss to Hayes, defeating him in their rematch Tuesday. The party has gone after Shays repeatedly, and finally knocked him off thanks to businessman Jim Himes (D).
“The last Republican in New England has fallen,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.), head of the Democrats’ “Red to Blue” operation, which targets GOP-held seats.
State Sen. Debbie Halvorson (D) won Weller’s seat, defeating businessman Marty Ozinga (R).
Florida Democrats Alan Grayson and Suzanne Kosmas led off the night by giving House Democrats their first takeovers after being declared the winners over Keller and Feeney, respectively.
Kosmas defeated Feeney, who might have been the most vulnerable GOP incumbent. Feeney was dogged by a trip he took five years ago that was organized by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
Arizona state Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick (D) and Fairfax County Board Chairman Gerry Connolly (D) won the seats of Renzi and Davis, respectively, taking races Democrats were expected to take.
In Renzi’s district, the GOP’s hopes were severely damaged when Renzi was indicted earlier this year.
Davis’s seat has tilted heavily toward Democrats in recent years, and the popular Connolly defeated a relatively unknown businessman named Keith Fimian (R).
But it hasn’t been all bad news for the GOP. Republicans have taken back two seats by defeating embattled Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) and sending special election-winning Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-La.) home after just a few months on the job.
Republican Tom Rooney defeated the freshman Mahoney, who succumbed to a sex scandal after he was reported in October to have paid hush money to a former mistress.
State Sen. Bill Cassidy (R) dethroned Cazayoux, who suffered from the independent candidacy of Democratic state Rep. Michael Jackson. Still, Jackson’s 8-percent pull didn’t appear to be the difference, as Cassidy led 55-37 with 75 percent of precincts in.
Democrats are expected to win as many as 25 or 30 seats, potentially equaling their pull from the 2006 election and grabbing more than 60 percent of seats in the 435-member House.
In another race considered a tossup, Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) survived one of the toughest races for an incumbent Democrat, holding on in a rematch with former Rep. Jeb Bradley (R).
The GOP held on to an open seat in Kentucky, where state Sen. Brett Guthrie (R) held off state Sen. David Boswell (D) in retiring Rep. Ron Lewis’s (R) conservative district.
Also, Republican Chris Lee has defended retiring Rep. Tom Reynolds’s (R-N.Y.) seat, helping the New York GOP avoid a complete Election Night disaster in its congressional races.
In other notable races, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) won reelection despite his comments describing his constituents as “racist,” and freshman Rep. Christopher Carney (D-Pa.), who began the cycle as a top GOP target, won reelection in a nearby district.