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A Poor Election Night for Republicans in Clinton Districts

GOP-held seats that Clinton won in 2016 mostly swung to the Democrats this year

Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., represented a district Hillary Clinton won by 10 points in 2016. She lost her bid for a third term Tuesday night to Democrat Jennifer Wexton. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., represented a district Hillary Clinton won by 10 points in 2016. She lost her bid for a third term Tuesday night to Democrat Jennifer Wexton. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Editor’s note: At the time of this story’s publication, The Associated Press had called the race for California’s 21st District for Republican incumbent David Valadao. A final count later revealed that Valadao had in fact lost to Democrat TJ Cox by 862 votes.

Updated Wednesday, 3:06 p.m. | Democrats have won a House majority, boosted by several key pickups of Republican-held districts that backed Hillary Clinton two years ago. 

The party needed a net of 23 seats to take over the chamber. 

Here’s how the midterms unfolded in these 25 Clinton-backing GOP-held seats, many of which are the type of suburban, affluent districts where President Donald Trump remains unpopular. 

Democrats have so far picked up 19 of these seats, while Republicans have held on to three.

(Note: The Associated Press initially called Texas’ 23rd District for Will Hurd, but that call has since been retracted. The races in California’s 39th and 45th districts have not yet been called.)

This page will be updated as more races are called. 

Democratic pickups

  • California’s 10th District — Democrat Josh Harder unseats four-term GOP Rep. Jeff Denham in the Central Valley district.
  • California’s 48th District — Democrat Harley Rouda knocks off longtime Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in the coastal Orange County district.
  • California’s 25th District — Democrat Katie Hill unseats two-term GOP Rep. Steve Knight in the only Republican-held district to cover part of Los Angeles. 
  • Washington’s 8th District — Democrat Kim Schrier defeats Republican Dino Rossi to win the seat outside Seattle that Democrats have long targeted.
  • California’s 49th District — Democrat Mike Levin wins the Southern California seat vacated by GOP Rep. Darrell Issa with a win over Republican Diane Harkey. 
  • Arizona’s 2nd District — Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick is coming back to Congress after winning the Tucson-anchored seat over Republican Lea Marquez Peterson. 
  • Texas’ 7th District — Democrat Lizzie Pannill Fletcher knocks off nine-term Republican Rep. John Culberson in the longtime GOP-held Houston-based seat . 
  • New Jersey’s 7th District — Democrat Tom Malinowski unseats five-term Republican incumbent Leonard Lance.
  • Texas’ 32nd District — Democrat Colin Allred defeats longtime GOP Rep. Pete Sessions in the suburban Dallas seat. 
  • Illinois’ 6th District — Democrat Sean Casten unseats GOP Rep. Peter Roskam in a seat that was drawn to elect a Republican. 
  • Pennsylvania’s 7th District — Democrat Susan Wild wins newly drawn seat, defeating Republican Marty Nothstein.
  • Colorado’s 6th District — Democrat Jason Crow defeats Republican Rep. Mike Coffman in the suburban Denver seat.
  • Kansas’ 3rd District — Democrat Sharice Davids unseats GOP Rep. Kevin Yoder in a suburban Kansas City seat. 
  • Pennsylvania’s 6th District — Democrat Chrissy Houlan will succeed Republican incumbent Ryan A. Costello, who opted not to seek re-election after the district lines were redrawn earlier this year. 
  • Pennsylvania’s 5th District — Democrat Mary Gay Scanlon wins the newly drawn seat, defeating Republican Pearl Kim. 
  • Minnesota’s 3rd District — Democrat Dean Phillips defeats five-term GOP Rep. Erik Paulsen in a suburban Twin Cities district. 
  • Florida’s 26th District — Debbie Mucarsel Power unseats Republican Rep. Carlos Curbelo, who’s in his second term representing the South Florida seat. 
  • Virginia’s 10th District — State Sen. Jennifer Wexton ends GOP Rep. Barbara Comstock’s bid for a third term.
  • Florida’s 27th District — Donna Shalala wins the open seat that longtime Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is vacating.  

Republican holds

  • California’s 21st District — Republican Rep. David Valadao wins a fourth term in his Central Valley district, defeating Democrat T.J. Cox. 
  • Pennsylvania’s 1st District — Freshman Republican Brian Fitzpatrick keeps his redrawn seat in the Philadelphia suburbs, beating back a challenge from Democrat Scott Wallace.
  • New York’s 24th District — GOP Rep. John Katko wins a third term representing his upstate New York seat, defeating Democrat Dana Balter.

Also Watch: Poll Volunteers of All Ages, Backgrounds Give Back on Election Day

 

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