House Dems plus-nine after PA, NM, NY wins

House Democrats have unseated Reps. Phil English (R-Pa.) and Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.) and taken the open seat of outgoing Rep. Steve Pearce (R-N.M.), giving them 12 takeovers on election night and a net gain of nine seats.

English fell to Democrat Kathleen Dahlkemper in one of the top races of the cycle, while Democrat Eric Massa won a grudge-match with Kuhl.

{mosads}Democrat Harry Teague defeated Republican Ed Tinsley in Pearce’s conservative district. Democrats appear primed to sweep the state’s congressional delegation after Pearce lost his Senate race.

Democrats have also won the open seats held by retiring GOP Reps. Jim Saxton (N.J.), Rick Renzi (Ariz.), Tom Davis (Va.), James Walsh (N.Y.) and Jerry Weller (Ill.).

Against incumbents, they have knocked off Reps. Christopher 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 on an election night with nearly three dozen toss-ups. Most of those races are yet undecided.

Massa lost narrowly to Kuhl in 2006 and jumped in the race almost immediately again this cycle.

Democrats also 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 barley held onto those seats in 2006, as well.

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).

In New Jersey, state Sen. John Adler (D) defeated Republican Chris Myers in one of the most pitched open-seat battles of the 2008 cycle. Democrats were unsuccessful in two other targeted races in that state.

But it hasn’t been all bad news for the GOP. Republicans have softened the blow some by winning races against a trio of Democratic freshmen.

The GOP defeated embattled Rep. Tim Mahoney (D-Fla.) and sent special election-winning Rep. Don Cazayoux (D-La.) home after just a few months on the job. Former GOP aide Pete Olson has also defeated Rep. Nick Lampson (D-Texas).

Republican Tom Rooney defeated 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.

Rep. Tom Cole, the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), said early signs indicate the party won’t lose the 30 seats it lost in 2006.
 
“We sort of got through this a little bit better than some people might have expected,” Cole (Okla.) said just after 12:30 a.m. EST. “We certainly didn’t lose some of the numbers that were projected, in the high 20s or low 30s. We’ll certainly come in better than that, in my estimation.”
 
Cole said he thinks Republicans should have plenty of material to work with in future elections, because President-Elect Barack Obama and his vice presidential pick, Joe Biden, will push the country to the left.

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 toss-up, 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 onto an open seat in Kentucky, where state Sen. Brett Guthrie (R) held off fellow 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. Chris Carney (D-Pa.), who began the cycle as a top GOP target, won reelection in a nearby district.