Republicans seized control of the House Tuesday, reshaping the Capitol Hill landscape just four years after the Democrats’ takeover and dealing a stunning nationwide rebuke to President Barack Obama’s ambitious agenda.
The Republican takeover sets off an extraordinary political reversal in the lower chamber that will stymie the White House’s legislative plans while bringing an end to Nancy Pelosi’s historic tenure as the first female speaker of the House.
Waiting in the wings is the all but certain speaker-in-waiting: John Boehner, 60, a 10-term Republican from western Ohio who led the House GOP during its four years in the minority.
“Across the country right now, we are witnessing a repudiation of Washington, a repudiation of big government, and a repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the people,” Boehner told supporters shortly before midnight, choking up as he spoke. “Because for far too long, Washington’s been doing what’s best for Washington, not what’s best for the American people. Tonight, that begins to change.”
According to a tally by the Associated Press, the Republicans had at least a 59-seat net pickup – taking 61 Democratic seats and losing two Republican seats, one in Louisiana and one in Delaware – a greater reversal than in 1994, when the GOP swept Democrats out of 40 years of control by winning 54 seats.
About 20 seats remained undecided, with a few of them likely headed for automatic recounts, most notably a closely watched race in Virginia, where Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly led Republican Keith Fimian by less than 500 votes out of more than 225,000 cast.
The Democratic losses this year were wide and deep – extending into every region of the nation where returns were in and cutting down everyone from freshmen to party elders, including two committee chairmen.
House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt of South Carolina lost, and with polls showing intense anger at Washington, so did Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri. Transportation Committee Chairman Jim Oberstar of Minnesota also was in danger of losing.
Democrats lost five seats each in Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. They lost four in Florida and three each in Virginia, Tennessee and Illinois – the president’s home state.
The first signs of a GOP wave Tuesday night came early, when Indiana Rep. Baron Hill went down to defeat – a sign for Democrats of just how far their losses could stretch. The defeats quickly spread to Democratic veterans: Virginia’s Rick Boucher (14 terms), Pennsylvania’s Paul Kanjorski of Pennsylvania (13 terms) and Texas’ Chet Edwards (10 terms), a powerful Appropriations Committee cardinal.
A few rare bright spots for Democrats: House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, the visible and veteran Massachusetts congressman, staved off a stronger than expected challenge from a GOP foe, as did Michigan Rep. John Dingell, the longest-serving member of the House.
But the early results also proved what Democrats had long feared: that their freshmen and sophomores, who won in conservative territory in 2006 and 2008, would go down to defeat.
Among those who lost their seats: first-term Virginia Reps. Tom Perriello and Glenn Nye; freshman Rep. Frank Kratovil of Maryland; two vulnerable Florida freshmen, Rep. Suzanne Kosmas and the outspoken Rep. Alan Grayson; second-term Rep. Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire; Illinois Rep. Debbie Halvorson.
It was a stunning turnaround from just two years ago, when Obama’s victory seemed to dispatch Republicans into the political wilderness. But as Obama sought to press his advantage after his decisive win, he embarked on a legislative agenda that, in the end, was the undoing of his party’s House majority.
And Boehner stands to benefit, though he would be something of an unlikely speaker: the son of a bar owner, the Ohio Republican helped draw up the 1994 Contract for America, was ousted from a leadership slot in 1998, then hung on as the Republican revolution ran aground. He now faces the prospect of presiding over a fractious conference split between take-no-prisoners tea party activists and established members.
As the race played out over the last two years, Republicans – with the assistance of well-funded outside conservative groups — sought to hammer Democrats for their policies while branding them as the party of taxes and spending. Obama gave them plenty to work with – a stimulus plan and health care reform bill, each carrying a near-trillion dollar price tag, plus a cap-and-trade energy bill that was deeply unpopular in the industrial heartland.
At a time of 10 percent unemployment, voters grew skittish, then angry at what many saw as tone-deafness from Washington Democrats. And Pelosi, the 11-term San Francisco Democrat, became an appealing target in the effort as the minority party sought to nationalize the election – using her stature as one of most powerful House speakers in modern memory to paint her as the embodiment of liberal overreach in Washington.
Pelosi’s face was featured on anti-Democratic billboards, and the Republican National Chairman Michael Steele launched a “Fire Pelosi” bus tour over the summer.
Democrats, for their part, fought back, arguing that Republicans wanted to return the country to the policies of George W. Bush. But in House race after House race, polls showed voters weren’t yearning for another dose of Bush but they were happy to have the chance to put up some obstacles to Obama.
“The outcome of the election does not diminish the work we have done for the American people. We must all strive to find common ground to support the middle class, create jobs, reduce the deficit and move our nation forward,” Pelosi said in a statement.
The dramatic battle for the House played out against a backdrop of astonishing political volatility, with voters electing a Democratic Congress in 2006 and a Democratic president and expanded congressional majorities in 2008 — only to turn back to the GOP two years later.
In 2006, Democrats added 32 seats, and in 2008, added 24 more. Tuesday night would mark only the third election since World War II when one party picked up more than 20 seats.
Redefining the House chamber was a rising tide of tea party-style candidates, who, fueled by anger over the health care bill and government spending, headlined races from coast to coast. As the night progressed, the list of tea party-style incoming members of the House GOP Conference grew – a roster of names including Renee Ellmers of North Carolina, Todd Young of Indiana, Scott Tipton of Colorado, and and two new members from Florida, Steve Southerland and Allen West.
Wrangling these new members could become a full-time job for Boehner and his expected top lieutenant, Eric Cantor of Virginia. One sign of the jockeying for position inside the GOP caucus: tea party favorite Michele Bachmann of Minnesota on Tuesday threw her at in the ring for the No. 3 leadership post, Republican Conference chairwoman.
Still, GOP aides say Boehner is prepared to get off to a fast start, promising that he’ll launch his plan for congressional reform even before he takes over the job. And he’s showing signs of soothing the nerves of tea party activists, telling a group of grassroots conservatives in Liberty Township, Ohio that he’d “never let you down.”
With fully 100 or more House seats in play, the GOP targets of opportunity were spread across the map, and they focused on about 50 seats they had lost to the Democrats in 2006 and 2008.
In some cases, Republicans succeeded despite a battering ram of Democratic attacks. In the 10 races where the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spent the most money, seven Republican candidates won. And Democrats launched blistering, opposition research-driven campaigns against Scott DesJarlais of Tennessee, Tom Marino of Pennsylvania, and West – only to see each Republican prevail.
The most widespread Democratic losses were taking place in the South and Midwest, where polls showed the most resistance to Obama’s agenda and spread into coal country, where Republicans have hammered Democratic leaders over their push for cap and trade legislation. Republicans were raking up wins in Ohio, Georgia and Virginia.
But Republicans were also wining back some of the territory they had lost in the northeast in recent cycles, capturing seats in New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.
But it was those Democrats who fully embraced the Obama agenda overall – including health care, cap-and-trade, and the economic stimulus package – over the last 21 months who found their political careers in the most jeopardy Tuesday – a list of names that included vulnerable freshman like Perriello, Ohio Rep. Steve Driehaus and Wisconsin Rep. Steve Kagen and more veteran members like Earl Pomeroy of North Dakota and Sanford Bishop of Georgia.
Amid the bloodletting, a few Democratic survivors emerged. North Carolina Reps. Mike McIntyre and Larry Kissell, New Mexico Rep. Martin Heinrich, and Kentucky Rep. Ben Chandler – all of whom were targeted heavily by Republicans – emerged victorious.
Democratic strategists were eyeing a handful of Republican-held seats as they attempted to protect their embattled majority, including districts in Illinois and Florida. Democrats picked up the Delaware at-large seat vacated by GOP Rep. Mike Castle, who retired to run for Senate and the Louisiana seat of GOP Rep. Joseph Cao.
In a new majority, Boehner is likely to see fights over top spots in GOP leadership. The race for conference chairman may be the most intense contest for leadership spots in the Republican Conference, as it is a steppingstone to higher leadership jobs and the majority leader slot is locked up by Cantor. The majority whip spot might come down to Reps. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas), a Boehner ally.
Bachmann is one of many strong-willed conservatives Boehner will have to deal with if he takes leadership of a large Republican majority after election night. Bachmann, who founded the Tea Party Caucus, has made herself a spokeswoman for conservatives in Congress even though she’s been in the House for only two terms and holds no formal leadership position.
Reps. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington and Jason Chaffetz of Utah all have gotten their names into the conversation about the conference spot, which is likely to be vacated by Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, because he’s considering a gubernatorial or presidential run.
{Capitol News Company, LLC/Matzav.com Newscenter}
