Another One Bites The Dust

From CQPolitics.com:

Democrat Tom Perriello defeated Republican Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr. by 745 votes in the Nov. 4 election, Virginia's elections board said Monday as it certified results in the closely contested 5th District.

Goode has until Dec. 4th to ask for a recount. Virginia law allows the losing candidate to request one recount if the margin is less than one percentage point.

With Perriello's victory, Democrats will have at least 256 House seats in the next Congress, compared with 175 for the Republicans.

Republicans currently lead in uncalled races in California's 4th District and Ohio's 15th District. There are also general elections Dec. 6 in Louisiana's 2nd and 4th Congressional Districts.

Make that at least 257, since Rep. William Jefferson will almost certainly win LA-2 like he always does.

Over on the Senate side, Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com makes the case that Al Franken will win the Minnesota recount. The Georgia runoff between Saxby Chambliss and Jim Martin takes place on December 2nd.

Calling It

This blogger is calling it for the night. It's been three hours since the networks called it for Obama (10:00pm CST) and since then I swear the only thing I've done is flitter from one site to the next trying to get U.S. House totals, Texas race totals, and local Dallas and Tarrant County election totals. But you dear reader know what I know, as it's all here on the blog somewhere (see the links on the upper right.)

Clearly, it has been a historic night. It's simply incredible that Americans have elected their first African-American President, but it bears reminding that Obama wasn't elected because he's black; he was elected because a majority of Americans trust him with the future of this nation. They will not be proven wrong in their trust.

Democrats have picked up at least five seats in the Senate, and are likely to take out Stevens as well (though it's too early to say for sure.) They probably won't get Chambliss though. Too bad.

Democrats will pick up a few more seats in the House. Nothing stunning, but adding to the comfortable margin they already enjoy.

In Texas...well, Texas is a different story. The purpling of the state will have to wait, as results were decidedly mixed. Gains in the U.S. House were nil, gains in the Texas House were less than hoped for, but Wendy Davis did score an upset against Kim Brimer in the Texas Senate. Things look good for Dallas County Democrats, and less so for Tarrant County Democrats.

And that's where we are at about 1:30 CST. We'll know more in the morning, and expect that my co-bloggers and I will have much more to say about this incredible night tomorrow and in the coming days. Good night folks.

Handy Reference

I put together a spreadsheet to help me keep track of races of note, from the U.S. Senate on down to county commissioner. My co-blogger Nat-Wu is encouraging me to put it online in case it could prove of use to others, so here it is. It's been hastily assembled so I apologize for errors and omissions, and unfortunately you can't edit it to your own purposes. Next time we'll try something in earnest that might be more useful to our readers.

United States House Races Thread

This thread will serve to provide updates on the outcomes of the United States House races. A handy link to this post is on the upper right-hand corner of the blog, but I will probably keep promoting this post along with our other election threads to the top of the blog. For the sake of ease of reading, I'll skip the "Update" addendum that usually accompanies a change to the post, and just add information as we get it. Necessarily, we will only be following contested House races.

MSNBC is calling it for Murtha (whew!)

Texas: McCaul (R) will defeat challenger Democratic Larry Doherty for HD 10. Sadly, it's looking like Nick Lampson, who took over Tom DeLay's seat in 2006, will lose to Pete Olson. John Culberson (R) defeats challenger Michael Skelly.

Chris Shays, Connecticut's 22-year GOP incumbent, has lost. Democrats now hold all House seats from New England and New York.

John Adler (D) defeats Christ Myers in New Jersey to take the Republican open seat.

Tim Mahoney, successor to Mark Foley in Florida, has lost to his Republican challenger. But elsewhere in Florida, GOP incumbents Tom Feeney and Ric Keller have both lost.

In Illinois, Debbie Halvorson (d) has taken the seat vacated by its Republican incumbent.

In Minnesota, Republican Michelle Bachman held onto her seat despite sticking her foot all the way down her mouth and out her ass by calling for investigations into anti-American members of Congress. From here on out she will probably be more circumspect, thought probably not less idiotic.

Kissell defeats Republican incumbent Hays in North Carolina.

Gerry Connolly (D) succeeds retiring incumbent Tom Davis (R) in Virginia. The race between Goode (R) and Perriello (D) in southern Virginia is too close to call.

So far, Democrats have gained a net of 14 seats in the House. Not the stunning numbers of the 2006 mid-terms by any means, but increasing the majority in the House has never been as crucial as gaining a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate and taking the White House.

Score another House seat for Dems

Yes, Democrats won another House special election in a solid Republican district. Congratulations to Rep.-elect Travis Childers of Mississippi's first district. Democrats now have a 236-199 advantage in the U.S. House, having started the cycle 233-202.

Childers defeated Republican Greg Davis in a special election to fill the final few months of a two-year term in Congress. The seat was vacated when Roger Wicker was appointed to the U.S. Senate after Trent Lott resigned. The NRCC spent over $1.3 million in this race. Turnout may end up exceeding 100,000 when all is said and done.

Just another good sign for Dems in the fall.

Democrats win yet another House seat

While the presidential race looks 50/50 right now between McCain and Obama/Clinton, this continues to look like a blowout year for Democrats in Congress. Democrat Don Cazayoux won a special congressional election in Louisiana by taking a seat Republicans have held since 1974. Democrats now have a 235-199 advantage in the U.S. House, having started the cycle 233-202.

Democrat wins Dennis Hastert's seat!

Democrat Bill Foster won the special election for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert's seat tonight. Foster, whom Obama made this ad for, beat Republican Jim Oberweis in the longtime GOP district, increasing the Democratic House majority by one more seat. Another election for the seat will be held in November for a new, full term and it will likely be another tough race, but this is great news for Dems tonight and very bad news for Republicans to lose in what was once such a stronghold for them.

The Other Elections Last Night

Aside from the presidential primary voting, two other important primary elections were going in which two House veterans lost their seats to challengers.

Republican Rep. Wayne Gilchrest was one of just a handful that backed Democratic bills to end the war in Iraq, sadly losing his seat to a conservative challenger (Rep. Walter Jones may face a similar fate in North Carolina's primary in May). His defeat brings to 30 the number of GOP House incumbents who won't be returning next year, the others due to resignations and retirements. That brings us to the good news which is Democrats may have a better chance of winning this seat versus a more conservative candidate.

On the Democratic side, Rep. Albert Wynn lost his seat to Donna Edwards - who won with 60% of the vote. Edwards had run against Wynn before due to his initial support of the Iraq war, the bankruptcy bill, etc. but this time her campaign was successfully fueled by progressive champions such as DailyKos. This could be seen as a sign to some entrenched Democrats that their base may rise against them if they vote in a way not to their liking. Establishment beware!

Good riddance

Crazy, racist, hate mongering Congressman Tom Tancredo has announced he will not seek re-election, regardless of the outcome of the race for the Republican presidential nomination. I pretty much can't think of anyone in the House that's more clearly a bad human being than him (just look at his recent antics where he called on the feds to raid a rally for the DREAM Act put on by Sen. Dick Durbin - the Assistant Majority Leader!). His entire presidential campaign is based on appealing to the most xenophobic elements of the Republican Party, in his quest to return American policy to the types of anti-immigration laws we saw in the 1920s (despite the fact that even illegal immigration does more good than harm for the economy). Not that he doesn't take a far-right position on any issue - throw in comments about nuking the Middle East and you have a candidate even many Republicans can't endorse.

His House seats will more than likely stay in Republican hands, but again, it is hard to imagine his successor being worse than him. The article indicates that Tancredo may run for Senate in 2010 against Democrat Ken Salazar, but we'd have nothing to worry about at all if he did given Salazar's popularity, Tancredo's insanity, and the general Democratic trend the state has been the last few years.

House Outlook 2008

In just the last week, two Republican congressmen from Ohio decided not to run for re-election, raising the number to 12 of members of their party to do so since the beginning of the year. About half are in secure districts, but it still suggests Republicans see the writing on the wall as far as their prospects for retaking the House majority go. Also, former House Speaker Dennis Hastert has decided to resign his seat later this year. Republicans would normally be expected to win this seat, but a special election could potentially be held on Illinois' Feb. 5th presidential primary day. Obama supporters will be coming out to show their support, and the influx of Democrats could tip the race in their favor. Oh, and newly sworn in Congresswoman Nikki Tsongas (wife of the late Sen. Paul Tsongas) successfully fended off her opponent whom Republicans thought could win in a special election this past Tuesday. Her swearing in brings the Democratic majority in the House to 233 members, compared to 200 Republicans, with two vacancies.

CQPolitics says Dems carry momentum into the 2008 race, especially looking at the DCCC's fundraising (what is especially encouraging is the early money raised by freshman Dems in competitive districts). Stu Rothenberg's ratings are here, MyDD's take is here, and the Cook Political Report's chart is here.

Anyway, things look good right now for Democrats.