Election Results 2008

Sans Shays, GOP Is Hibernating in Northeast

New England voters on Tuesday continued their trend of knocking off Republican lawmakers, as they ousted a GOP Senator and a well-known House Republican moderate, while re-electing a pair of Democratic freshmen.

Democrats Post Big Gains Throughout Region

House Democrats realized one of the largest net gains of anywhere in the country in the Mid-Atlantic region Tuesday night, picking up at least five and possibly six GOP-held seats. The final margin rests in the balance because the open-seat contest in Maryland’s 1st district still had not been called as of press time Wednesday. Democrats were ahead in the contest, but only by a very slight margin.

Obama Coattails Prevail in N.C. and Va. Races

College football is king in the South, and Republican electoral fortunes Tuesday appeared to split along major conference lines: The GOP was battered in the Atlantic Coast Conference strongholds of North Carolina and Virginia, but they prevented a Dixie disaster by holding their ground in key races in Southeastern Conference states, including Kentucky, Mississippi and Georgia.

Democrats Gain in Michigan and Ohio

As thousands of Chicagoans cheered the resounding victory of hometown son and now President-elect Obama on Tuesday night, Illinois Democrats were also celebrating the pickup of one House seat with the landslide election of state Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D).

Obama's Coattails a Bit Short in Plains States

Though Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) overwhelmingly won the electoral college in his presidential race, his coattails weren’t quite as long as some Democrats were hoping — particularly in the Plains.

And Now for Something Completely Different

With Tuesday’s election, the stunning political transformation of New Mexico is complete.The Land of Enchantment now has an all-Democratic Congressional delegation. It has new Members in all three House seats and a new Senator to replace legendary six-term Sen. Pete Domenici (R).

Democrats Are Mountain High in Colorado

National Democratic gains reverberated in the Mountain States, with the loudest echo in Colorado, where Democrats claimed a decisive majority of the state’s Congressional delegation. The Centennial State’s nine-member delegation will be dominated by seven Democrats in the next Congress, reducing the number of Republican-held seats by half.

Alaska's GOP Houdinis May Escape

Despite aggressive efforts to sweep the West, Democrats came up short in several key races, as many GOP incumbents had better showings than expected on Election Day. This is particularly true for Alaska's “Senator of the Millennium,” Ted Stevens (R), who just last week was convicted on seven counts in a federal court for filing false financial statements.

Casualty List

Find out who lost, who's retiring and who's moving on when the 110th Congress ends.