Storms start to move out of Minnesota, continue for western Wisconsin

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"It's the night we have been waiting for," said House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.


      Ousting 22-year veteran Rep. Chris Shays in Connecticut gave
Democrats every House seat from New England. Their victory in an
open seat on New York's Staten Island gave them control of all of
New York City's delegation in Washington for the first time in 35
years.


      Democrats also rode the coattails of a decisive victory by
Barack Obama in New Mexico to win one House seat they haven't
controlled in four decades and another the GOP had held for 28
years. Both were left up-for-grabs by GOP retirements.


      Democrats unseated a half-dozen Republican incumbents and
captured eight open GOP seats, capitalizing on the unusually high
29 Republican departures. Republicans knocked off three Democratic
incumbents.


      With more than 380 of the 435 House races decided, Democrats
held leads for a dozen other Republican-held seats. Republicans
were leading in fewer than a handful of seats held by Democrats.


      For the first time in more than 75 years, Democrats were headed
for big House gains in back-to-back elections. The picked up 30
seats in 2006.


      "This will be a wave upon a wave," Pelosi said.


      In the first sign of what promises to be a bitter round of GOP
recriminations, Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, the No. 3 Republican,
told colleagues in a letter released near midnight that he was
"reluctantly" stepping down from his post.


      In the northeast, GOP Reps. John R. "Randy" Kuhl of New York
and Phil English of Pennsylvania were defeated. Democrat Eric Massa
unseated Kuhl in New York's southern tier, and Kathy Dahlkemper, a
50-year-old mother of five, toppled English in a swing district of
rural communities and old industrial steel towns in Pennsylvania's
northwest corner.


      In Connecticut, Democrat Jim Himes, a Greenwich businessman,
defeated Shays despite the Republican's highly publicized late
criticism of McCain's presidential campaign.


      In upstate New York, former congressional staffer Dan Maffei won
election to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Jim Walsh, becoming first
Democrat in nearly 30 years to represent the district around
Syracuse. Downstate, Democratic city councilman Mike McMahon won
the race on Staten Island to succeed GOP Rep. Vito Fossella,
R-N.Y., who was forced to resign amid drunk driving charges and
revelations that he fathered a child from an extramarital affair.


      New Jersey Democratic state Sen. John Adler won election to
succeed retiring Rep. Jim Saxton, R-N.J., in the state's Pine
Barrens region.


      In the South, too, Democrats made inroads. High school civics
teacher Larry Kissell won election in North Carolina, defeating
Republican Rep. Robin Hayes. Democrat Gerald Connolly, a former
chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, was elected to
succeed retiring GOP Rep. Thomas M. Davis III in a northern
Virginia district that's trending more Democratic because of an
influx of new voters. And in a far more conservative district
further south, Rep. Virgil H. Goode Jr.,R-Va., was in a
too-cloe-to-call race for survival against Democrat Tom Perriello.


      In Florida, GOP Rep. Tom Feeney - under fire for ties to
disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff - was the first incumbent to fall,
losing to former state Rep. Suzanne Kosmas. To the east, Rep. Ric
Keller, R-Fla., lost to Democratic attorney Alan Grayson, in an
increasingly Hispanic district in Orlando.


      Democrats also made inroads in the West, where they captured the
two New Mexico seats and one left open by retiring GOP Rep. Rick
Renzi, who's awaiting trial on corruption charges.


      In Illinois, Democrat Debbie Halvorson, the speaker of the state
Senate, won election to a seat held by retiring GOP Rep. Jerry
Weller in the swing exurbs and rural areas south of Chicago.


      The news wasn't all good for Democrats. Republican attorney Tom
Rooney defeated first-term Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney of Florida,
who had admitted to two extramarital affairs just weeks before
Election Day.


      Republican Bill Cassidy dealt a bruising defeat to Rep. Don
Cazayoux, D-La., elected in a special election six months ago.


      And in Texas, Republican Pete Olson, a former chief of staff to
Sen. John Cornyn, beat Democratic Rep. Nick Lampson.


      But other freshman Democrats once considered vulnerable cruised
to easy re-election.


      First-term Democratic Reps. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Indiana's
Joe Donnelly and Brad Ellsworth, and New Hampshire's Rep. Carol
Shea-Porter won easy re-election. They were part of a crop of
freshman Democrats in conservative-leaning districts who began
compiling campaign war chests and moderate voting records almost
from the moment they were elected two years ago, leaving only a few
of them endangered on Tuesday.


      Former five-term Republican Rep. Anne Northup was unable to
mount a comeback in Louisville, Ky., against Yarmuth despite GOP
presidential nominee John McCain's decisive victory in the state.


      In 2006, Democrats won 30 seats and control of Congress in a
surge powered by voter anger over the Iraq war.


      This year the sour economy and public antipathy for President
Bush posed the biggest challenges for Republican candidates. The
Democrats were aided by a wave of GOP retirements and huge
financial and organizational advantages over Republicans.


      That's despite voter hostility toward the Democratic-controlled
Congress. Just one in five voters Tuesday approved of the job
Congress was doing, about as poorly as Bush fared, according to AP
exit polling.


      Six in 10 voters cited the economy as the most important issue
facing the nation. About half said the economy is poor and nearly
all the rest said it's not good. The results were based on a
preliminary partial sample of nearly 10,000 voters in Election Day
polls and in telephone interviews over the past week for early
voters.


      Democrats now control the House by a 235-199 margin, with one
vacancy.


      GOP lawmakers at risk included Alaska's Rep. Don Young,
Colorado's Rep. Marilyn Musgrave, and Michigan's Reps. Tim Walberg
and Joe Knollenberg. Rep. Lee Terry of Nebraska, once considered a
safe bet for re-election, was also in major trouble.


      Rep. John P. Murtha, D-Pa., who chairs a subcommittee with the
most influence on the Pentagon's spending, who had a scare after
calling his district south of Pittsburgh "racist," won easy
re-election.


      Democratic candidates raised $436 million, compared with
Republicans' $328 million, according to federal data compiled by
the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. The Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee poured $76 million into
competitive races and the National Republican Congressional
Committee spent $24 million.


      Because hurricanes delayed October primaries, two Louisiana
seats - one that belonged to retiring Republican Rep. Jim McCrery
and another held by indicted Democratic Rep. William Jefferson -
won't be decided until December. Those districts held primaries
Tuesday.

Democrats expand control of Senate by five seats

Obama sweeps to victory as first black president

Poll close in Minn.; pushing to record turnout numbers

Slideshow: The nation votes

Slideshow: Polling in Minnesota

Democrats retained control of the House and
pushed for historic gains in their majority Tuesday by solidifying
their dominance in the Northeast and making inroads in the South
and West.

Democrats retain control of U.S. House

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