Republicans gained a net of 63 seats so far on Tuesday night, putting the House at 239 Republican seats, 186 Democratic seats, and 10 seats uncalled (list below). The current Senate breakdown is 52 to 46 (Republicans picked up 6 so far) with 2 states - Washington and Alaska - yet to be finalized.
The AGC PAC contributed more than $1,000,000 to 252 candidates. So far, AGC has contributed to 209 winners or a win percentage of about 83 percent. That number will continue to be adjusted as the undecided races come in.
The likely incoming Republican chairmen of major House committees (Appropriations, Education and Labor, Transportation and Ways and Means) were all supported by the AGC PAC and by contractors in their states.
The House Republican victory is the biggest seat gain by either party since 1948, which was the year of President Harry Truman's reelection. By campaigning against the Republican-held Congress, President Truman delivered 75 seats to the Democrats. Since then, the biggest gain had been the 1994 Republican wave of 54 seats.
Read AGC's special Construction Legislative Week in Review post-election analysis.
Interesting Election Facts
Tuesday's election made the GOP more diverse. The new House Republican class includes two African-Americans - Tim Scott (S.C.) and Allen West (Fla.). An Indian-American woman - Nikki Haley - won the South Carolina governorship. Six Hispanics, including Marco Rubio (Fla.) in the Senate, Gov.-elect Susana Martinez (N.M.) and Brian Sandoval (Nev.), and Quico Canseco (Texas), Bill Flores (Texas) and Raul Labrador (Idaho) in the House.
Unaffiliated voters, yet again, made the difference in this election. After siding with Democrats by 18 points in 2006 and with President Obama by 8 points in 2008, Republicans won independents by 16 points on Tuesday. That stunning 34-point swing in the space of four years suggests that independents are loosely aligned with either party and makes courting them all the more important heading into 2012.
Former Congressmen Steve Chabot (Ohio), Steve Pearce (N.M.) Tim Walberg (Mich.), Mike Fitzpatrick (Pa.) and Charlie Bass (N.H.) all reclaimed their old House seats two or four years after they initially lost them.
Because committee chairs have longevity on their side, they typically have little to worry about. But Tuesday's election saw three committee chairs retired by the voters: Reps. Ike Skelton (Mo.), John Spratt (S.C.) and Jim Oberstar (Minn.), who chair the Armed Services, Budget and Transportation committees, respectively.
Seats Left to Call
- Washington Senate Patty Murray and Challenger Dino Rossi
- Alaska Senate incumbent Senator Lisa Murkowski ran a write-in campaign supported by AGC Alaska and its members, and now appears to be leading Republican Tea Party candidate Joe Miller.
- AZ-07 (Raul Grijalva) and Challenger: Ruth McClung
- AZ-08 (Gabrielle Giffords) and Challenger: Jesse Kelly
- CA-11 (Jerry McNerney) and Challenger: Dave Harmer
- CA-20 (Jim Costa) and Challenger: Andy Vidak
- KY-06 (Ben Chandler) and Challenger: Andy Barr
- IL-08 (Melissa Bean) and Challenger: Maria Rodriguez
- NY-25 (Dan Maffei) and Challenger: Ann Marie Buerkle
- TX-27 (Solomon Ortiz) and Challenger: Blake Farenthold
- VA-11 (Gerry Connolly) and Keith Fimian
- WA-02 (Rick Larsen) and Challenger: John Koster
2012 Election Cycle
The 2012 Election cycle started yesterday, but it is never too early in the cycle to find out how to become active with the AGC PAC. For more information contact Blair Hood at
hoodb@agc.org or (202) 547-5013.
In addition to the president and all 435 House seats, the following Senators will face the voters in 2012. Republicans may pick up seats next election because they have an advantage just from the line up with 23 Democrats (including two independents who vote with the Democrats) and only 10 Republicans facing the voters in 2012.
| Democrats |
Republicans |
| Akaka, Daniel K. (D-HI) |
Barrasso, John (R-WY) |
| Bingaman, Jeff (D-NM) |
Brown, Scott P. (R-MA) |
| Brown, Sherrod (D-OH) |
Corker, Bob (R-TN) |
| Cantwell, Maria (D-WA) |
Ensign, John (R-NV) |
| Cardin, Benjamin L. (D-MD) |
Hatch, Orrin G. (R-UT) |
| Carper, Thomas R. (D-DE) |
Hutchison, Kay Bailey (R-TX) |
| Casey, Robert P., Jr. (D-PA) |
Kyl, Jon (R-AZ) |
| Conrad, Kent (D-ND) |
Lugar, Richard G. (R-IN) |
| Feinstein, Dianne (D-CA) |
Snowe, Olympia J. (R-ME) |
| Gillibrand, Kirsten E. (D-NY) |
Wicker, Roger F. (R-MS) |
| Joe Manchin (D-WV) |
Independents |
| Klobuchar, Amy (D-MN) |
Lieberman, Joseph I. (ID-CT) |
| Kohl, Herb (D-WI) |
Sanders, Bernard (I-VT) |
| McCaskill, Claire (D-MO) |
|
| Menendez, Robert (D-NJ) |
| Nelson, Ben (D-NE) |
| Nelson, Bill (D-FL) |
| Stabenow, Debbie (D-MI) |
| Tester, Jon (D-MT) |
| Webb, Jim (D-VA) |
| Whitehouse, Sheldon (D-RI) |
For more information, contact Blair Hood at (202) 547-5013 or hoodb@agc.org.