Officially: Dems piclk up 10 seats from republicans in the congress.

[GreenTea]

Not too bad considering the amazing amount of republican Gerrymandering in swing states after the 2010 elections....Because of that gerrymandering it's going to be tough for the Dems to get the house back - We ALL have to show up in 2014 to stand a chance.

The Dems picked up nine seats officially and a Dem leads in one seat in North Carolina and most likely it will go tp the democratic candidate.

2013-14 House - Republicans 234 - Democrats 201

http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/2012/results/house

[LaPera]

1. Still, Ten more seats is good news!

[longship]

2. There was talk here of five seats being good.

Before the election we knew that we would likely hold the Senate. But with Senate seats being statewide and Congressional seats being Gerrymandered, the House outcome was dodgy at best, in spite of the optimism on the national electoral front.

But, if we get ten turnovers this year, that is really, really good, given our disadvantage.

Come on, midterms! It's gonna be tough, maybe very tough. But this is something Democrats can do. We need to stick together and let's Get 'er done!

[freshwest]

6. +1,000 to what you said.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. NC

Democrat Mike McIntyre

http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/Forest-McIntyre-ahead-as-NC-counties-firm-count-4044952.php

[John2]

26. I

know McIntyre's District and if he lives in Lumberton North Carolina, that is a heavily Democratic area. So if they took Robeson County out of his District, that county is 3-1 Democratic. Buncombe county is also heavily Democratic, as well as Wake County. Coleman has a point because the Tea Party tried to purge voters in Wake County. There were also voting irregularities with voting machines in North Carolina. Nathan Sprul's organization also operated in North Carolina during this election cycle. All I know is a lot of Republicans came out of the woods from somewhere. President Obama lost North Carolina by over 90,000 votes the last time I checked the tally but he won every major urban area. Some of those rural counties in North Carolina show produced a lot of votes.

[kath]

4. "The Congress" is composed of the House and the Senate.

Do you mean that the Dems picked up 10 seats in the House?
How many in the Senate?
I haven't been keeping up with the totals, since a fair number of races were still undecided as of a few days ago.

[dsc]

5. 2

we gained three (IN, MA, ME) and lost one (NE)

[TahitiNut]

41. It's hard for me to think of Ben Nelson as a "loss" ... more like a "loser."

Then again, I'm a (independent) Liberal (first, last, and always). Nelson was a lap dog for plutocrats. There are "yellow dogs," "blue dogs," and "lap dogs."

[dsc]

42. Fisher sounds quite the piece of work

I am not enamored of Kerrey but I wish he would have won that seat.

[progressoid]

48. She's a nightmare.

Hopefully, she's too incompetent to do much harm.

[Honeycombe8]

21. That's what I was wondering. 10 seats? In both the Senate & House combined? nt

[Milliesmom]

7. Charts: Ladyparts Strike Back

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/11/women-113th-congress-record-breaking

[MsLeopard]

9. Makes me proud of my country

Thanks for posting the link, and welcome to DU!

[Milliesmom]

13. I'm very proud too!

Thank you.

[mountain grammy]

36. I turn 65 this month, this makes me look forward to getting older!

When working people take the economy back, the economy will work!

[eyewall]

8. Since republicans use gerrymandering to such advantage

couldn't Democrats do a bit of redistricting of their own? At least to restore some of the insane districts created by the Republicans which are easily perceived as irrational for any purpose except republican control. I'd like to see Dennis Kucinich's seat come back into existence. It seems unfair to combine two Democratic districts to erase a Democratic seat.

[Posteritatis]

10. The next gerrymandering festival isn't for a decade, I think? (nt)

[oldhippydude]

14. thats right a census year at the begining of the decade.. next 2020

[eyewall]

39. ahh, thanks for the info, I didn't realize it was tied to the census.

Makes sense though.

[David__77]

40. There's nothing illegal about redistricting prior to a census.

The Texas GOP did it, as did the Georgia GOP. After 2014, and winning control of PA, OH, and MI, we need to redistrict in those states.

[BlueMan Votes]

49. Democrats DO gerrymander...

northeastern Illinois, for example.

[eyewall]

53. District number 4 looks pretty specialized LOL

If a district can so obviously show a partisan agenda (which I am assuming because of the shape), there should be some sort of restriction on how you build them.

[BlueMan Votes]

54. unfortunately- I'm in the 14th district- by two blocks.

my congress...thing is a teabagger- randy hultgren. Two blocks over:Tammy Duckworth.
If i make the 5-minute drive to Mcdonald's for breakfast- i go thru 3 different congressional districts.

[BlueMan Votes]

55. as for the 4th- it's the district represented by Luis Gutierrez.

as per wiki-

It was featured by The Economist as one of the most strangely drawn and gerrymandered congressional districts in the country[1] and has been nicknamed "earmuffs" due to its shape.[2] It was created to contain two majority Hispanic parts of Chicago.

This district covers two strips running east-west across the city of Chicago, Illinois on the west side continuing into smaller portion of some suburban areas in Cook County, surrounding Illinois' 7th congressional district. The northern portion is largely Puerto Rican, while the southern portion is heavily Mexican. The two sections are on opposite sides of the city and are only connected by a piece of Interstate 294 to the west; the highway is in the district while the surrounding areas are not. It is the smallest congressional district in area outside of New York City and San Francisco.[3]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illinois%27s_4th_congressional_district

[treestar]

51. Which is why we have to quit putting it all into the Presidency

And quit being above local politics. Look at all those states that went to the President yet have Republican governors and state houses. Republicans at least spend time and money on this lower level electioneering.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

11. Out of those 234 Rs, are there 17 who might vote with Democrats

on some big issues, such as raising the debt ceiling, comprehesive immigration reform, and taxing the wealthy somewhat more?

[kentuck]

16. I'm skeptical.

I doubt it.

[winstars]

18. Good question, although off the top of my head, NO...

Haven't they gotten rid of all the moderates at this point???

[bluestate10]

31. Moderates are gone from the republican party. The party is left with extremists.

That is even more reason why we should not give in to what they ask for unless they make massive concessions.

[oldhippydude]

19. a lot, if not all, are afraid of being primaried if they do

our job should be to make them more afraid of the general than their own primary....

[vinny9698]

20. Not with fear getting primaried by a tea party nut job,

They are more afraid of the gop primary. Just ask Lugar.

[reformist2]

28. I think so! It certainly is worth going over the cliff and waiting until next year!

[hrmjustin]

12. Not bad at all.

[William769]

15. Recommended.

[valerief]

17. It amazes me there can be that many Republicans. nt

[bluestate10]

29. Republicans were smart in 2010. We were dumb.

After our big wins in 2008, Liberals in particular, assigned magical powers to the House, Senate and President Obama. Those people were supposed to accomplish everything while we sat back and watched their magical work. Republicans came out of the gate fighting, joined by a motley crew of racists, sexists and general haters that called themselves the tea party. When the President, Senate and House couldn't deliver the pure liberal results that some demanded, those people sat on their asses while republicans, some of the worst variety, won close races against democrats for House seats, Senate seats, Governor seats, State Legislature seats. The result is what we lived through for the last two years leading up to the 2012 election. Republicans are back on their heels now, but instead of working to change, that party is trying to figure out how to sell poison to gullible voters. We must stop fighting each other at critical times and recognize that we can't let republicans succeed. The 2012 election was an important election for many reasons, but 2014, 2016, 2018, and particularly 2020 will be just as important, with 2020 being monumentally important.

[valerief]

30. It's dumb to be Republican. nt

[mountain grammy]

37. Very good, very true!

[nradisic]

22. Just as I predicted...

My call was Obama with 330 Electoral votes, at least 3 pick ups in the Senate and pick ups in the House...nice.

[bluestate10]

23. All elections through 2024 are absolutely vital if we are to return this nation to sanity and

prosperity for all americans that are willing to work. We must avoid losing seats in 2014, 2016 and 2018 with a few pickups in each of those elections, BUT the absolutely CRITICAL year is 2020, because that will be the last election before the next Census in 2021. That census and the subsequent re-districting will set the table for elections for the next 10 years. We need t focus on picking up State legislatures and Governor's seats during the 2014, 2016, 2018 and 2020 elections, because if we don't most of our efforts to build a better country will be blocked by a vocal and active minority.

[tabbycat31]

56. We need to focus on picking up state legislative seats everywhere

I've always said that the statehouses are a farm system for Congress. Sure you get a few that come out of nowhere, but if we want a good bench, we need to pick up state legislative seats everywhere.

2013 comes first and we need to focus on the two states with state legislative (and governor's) races--- NJ and VA.

[libodem]

24. We done good, kids

Lots of times it naturally swings toward the opposition party. Luckily it swung away from the literal, 'opposition party', of obstructionists. The party of NO.

Eff them!!!

[dem4ward]

25. Any chance we can fix

the Repukes redistricting efforts?

[Bibliovore]

35. Yes.

Especially after this last election, there could be a lot of support for fairer election laws -- such as a national set of uniform regulations, and fair redistricting done by computers (via program code inspectable by all) to make geographically compact districts that conform to all applicable voting laws. Such redistricting wouldn't even need to wait for another census. After Texas Republicans redistricted in 2003 (after there'd already been a post-census 2001 redistricting), the redistricting went to court and eventually to the Supreme Court, which said states can redistrict as often as they like.

[ReRe]

27. Our success inn 2014...

K&R

... is dependent upon what the Repubs do in the next two years. If it's gridlock city, then I say we will have a better chance of gaining the majority back. How many new Freshmen House Republicans this time? Those are the ones that might cross over and vote with Dems. Nahhhh... not enough of them, probably. Repubs are on the run, though, any way you look at it. We might not have won the House back, but we really kicked some serious butt this time folks. I say we pick the most vulnerable 100 House Repubs and really GOTV in their districts. Ground game time again. WE have to fight as much in 2014 as we did for all of our wins in 2012. And we need to start NOW. IMHO.

[tabbycat31]

57. A ground game can only go so far

While I'm all about a good ground game (I just was a congressional field director in VA), when you're outraised 5-1 there's only so much you can do.


So you need to pick a Republican to tear off (I can give you a few names if you would like--- hint-- as tempting as it is to want to put a big name on there, I would stay away from the superstars and pick a no name one) and not only donate a few bucks to his/her opponent's race, but make some phone calls and pound the pavement as well.

[Hulk]

32. 17 more to go in 2014.

....or more! Let's work on getting some VERY qualified candidates to take on the most irritating and vulnerable. We'd better be prepared to lose a few seats, so I'd shoot for 25 anyway.

[mountain grammy]

38. Powell, Zerban and Graves were three of the best,

hope they will run again in two years and rid us of Cantor, Boehner and Bachmann.

[CitizenPatriot]

33. Unexpected gains

and kind of kills GOP talking point. They weren't exactly handed a House landslide

[democrattotheend]

34. The Republicans picked up 6 seats in 2002

And the media acted like it was a huge wave. We pick up 10 and the narrative is that people voted for the status quo.

[julian09]

43. We didn't pick status quo, politicians picked their voters, drew lines around them.

then called them districts. We won more votes, in house while losing seats. HOUSE IS NOT REPRESENTATIVE OF VOTERS.

[Doctor_J]

44. If the Dems in Congress want a big turnout in 2014, they should

1. Govern like Dems
2. Start arresting and prosecuting all of the traitors and terrorists in the other party
3. Restore voting rights
4. Do something about the media

[MrModerate]

45. And perhaps there are 17 sane Republicans among that 234 . . .

Whose votes can be picked up on issues of national importance (on those rare occasions when the Dems actually agree with each other).

[spooky3]

46. Dems will need to gain control at state levels and change the gerrymandering.

[cherish44]

47. Wishful thinking but it's possible you could see some shifts in gerrymandered districts

People move, people die, demographics change. Look at the dramatic shift we've seen in a short time. Remember a decade ago, Bush was in office and the house and senate were both under firm Republican control. I think we can possibly win back the house in spite of gerrymandering. And of course there's always the fact the Republican party is on rocky ground and on the verge of imploding or splitting into a third party...We just need to GoTV and try get to the ones that are capable of being reasonable, learning and higher thought (probably only 20-30% of the party at this point, but that's enough to flip a few districts to blue).

[Gregorian]

50. A week ago I was saying we needed 40 votes in 2014. WE ONLY NEED ______! 21?

It's too early. I can't add two numbers. And subtraction is impossible. Where's my espresso?

What? 20 seats to gain a majority?

Argh...

[treestar]

52. Who did they replace would be interesting too

Did it kick out tea partiers or more moderate Republicans.

[Coyotl]

58. And, the majority of the votes cast for members of Congress nationwide. Blue mandate, red majority.