Call it a tsunami, a wave, a major thumping at the polls. The electorate on Tuesday showed its displeasure with a mostly Democratic Congress, voting out the party’s incumbents in historic numbers and handing the Republicans control over the House of Representatives again just four years after they lost it.
By late Tuesday night, Republicans had picked up enough seats across the country to declare themselves the new House majority and GOP leaders promised to heed the message voters seemed to be sending about their discontent with the current direction of the government.
“Your voice was heard at the ballot box,” House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told a jubilant gathering at a District hotel that served as the GOP election headquarters. “With their voices and their votes, the American people are demanding a new way forward in Washington. And I’m here tonight to tell you that our new majority will be prepared to do things differently, to take a new approach that hasn’t been tried before in Washington, by either party.”
Republicans also picked up seven Senate seats and as many as eight governor’s seats.
House Republicans were projected to increase their numbers by 60 seats, the biggest gain by either party since 1948 when Democrats picked up 75 seats. Incumbent Democrats felled Tuesday included the rookies and veterans. Voters replaced freshmen like Tom Perriello of Virginia and Suzanne Kosmas of Florida. They also dethroned several senior House members, including 14-term Rep. Rick Boucher of Virginia and House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt of South Carolina.
House Democrats appeared to concede early, with top leaders appearing briefly at their election headquarters two blocks from the Capitol. Even as they insisted they could still win the election, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., signaled the party’s awareness of what was to come.
“We are going to be listening closely and we are going to be expecting the American people to say, ‘Let us move forward together, let us solve the problems that confront us and we are speaking up and speaking out and we want you to make a difference,’ and we are pledging to do just that,” Hoyer said.
Even with their historic gains in the House, Republicans fell short of taking control of the Senate.
The GOP prevailed in Kentucky, Wisconsin, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, New Hampshire and Ohio, picking up seven Democratic seats, three shy of the 10 they needed to take control of the Senate.
Among the most senior Senate Democrats defeated Tuesday were Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.
One of the few bright spots for Senate Democrats was West Virginia, where Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin distanced himself from an unpopular President Obama to pull ahead of Tea Party favorite John Raese, and in Delaware, where Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell lost by double digits to liberal Democrat Chris Coons.
Still, Senate Republicans were elated.
“I’m going to be the leader of a large army after tonight,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who called the results a clear rebuke of the Obama administration and the Democratic agenda.
“Too much spending, too much debt and too many Washington takeovers,” an ebullient McConnell said. “What we are seeing tonight is a huge case of buyer’s remorse all across America. They told us to change this government and we are going to take the first steps tonight.”
In the races for governor, Republicans were projected to pick up as many as eight seats and had declared victory in Michigan, New Mexico, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Kansas, Pennsylvania and South Dakota.
One Republican acknowledged that voters were “giving us a second chance,” after voting them out in 2006. and Boehner, now the speaker-designate, promised a game plan that would include cutting spending, reducing the size of government and reforming Congress.
“The people’s priorities will be our priorities,” said Boehner, who broke down in tears during his speech. “The people’s agenda will be our agenda.”
