# Did ANY Democratic incumbents lose last night? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585 "2006-11-08T18:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/1 "2006-11-08T18:36:39Z")
In national races I mean. I’m sure someone in a city council election somewhere went down to defeat. But as far as I can tell there were no Democratic losses in the House, the Senate or any of the governorships. Have I overlooked someone? How rare is this historically? ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/2 "2006-11-08T18:52:46Z")
Not a one. I checked the map at the [NY Times](http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/index.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1163011924-r2DLizy/FU2Ew966KvnG9Q) website, where a dark red would mean a sitting Democratic seat (House, Senate, Governorships) was ousted by a Republican. Not a single dark red seat was seen. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/3 "2006-11-08T19:03:59Z")
According to [CNN](http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/house/), Georgia’s 12th District remains too close to call, although the Democratic incumbent has a slight lead. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/4 "2006-11-08T19:13:25Z")
Note that “Democratic loss of a seat” is a slightly different question than “Democratic incumbent defeated”. There could be a race with no incumbent, previously held by the Democrats, won by a Republican. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/5 "2006-11-08T19:21:09Z")
Overall, incumbents won 96.3 percent of gubernatorial races (26/27), 94.3 % of House races (381/404), and 82.7% of Senate races (24/29). Democrats had a slight edge in races without an incumbent running. They held a 17-14 edge in house races, 2-1 in the senate (plus Sanders-VT, who is an independent) , and 6-4 in governor’s races. FWIW, the republican incumbents lost 5 senate races, 23 house races, and one governors race. (This tally counts Foley’s house seat as an incumbent loss, even though he resigned before the election. It also counts Allen as a loss in VA although the final result is still in dispute.) ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/6 "2006-11-08T19:29:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Democrats had a slight edge in races without an incumbent running. They held a 17-14 edge in house races, 2-1 in the senate (plus Sanders-VT, who is an independent) , and 6-4 in governor’s races. Do you happen to have data on whether any Republican wins in those races were for positions vacated by a Democrat? ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/7 "2006-11-08T21:10:19Z")
[QUOTE=yabob] Do you happen to have data on whether any Republican wins in those races were for positions vacated by a Democrat? [/QUOTE] I’d have to look at each of the House races to compile the numbers. In the Senate, both Democratic seats that were vacated were held. That’s be Minnesota (Dayton retired, Klobuchar won) and Maryland (Sarbanes retired, Cardin won). The Dems also held the one governorship they vacated, which was Iowa (Vilsack retired, Culver won). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/8 "2006-11-08T21:36:49Z")
Technically, the Democrats lost the seat held by Joe Lieberman in Connecticut, which was won by Independent Joe Lieberman. Other than that, I’m not aware of any national seat that switched from the Democratic side. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/9 "2006-11-08T21:54:17Z")
> [@](#): > > Not only did we take the Senate, take the House, and destroyed Republicans at the state legislative level, but we didn’t lose a single senate seat, we didn’t lose any House seats, we didn’t lose any governorships, we didn’t lose any state legislatures. It was a rout of epic proportions. [A Partisan Yet Knowledgeable Source](http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/11/8/15285/0031) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/10 "2006-11-08T22:36:51Z")
[QUOTE=Pochacco] How rare is this historically? [/QUOTE] Pretty rare, but at least as far as Congress goes, not unprecedented. In 1994 the Republicans didn’t lose any incumbents in either house. I’m not sure about the governorships in that year. In earlier years, it was harder to hold every incumbent, because districts weren’t as carefully gerrymandered and more seats were competitive. [This article](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6286846) cites some incumbents who lost in previous Democratic landslides: > [@](#): > > 1982 (+26 seats): Dem incumbents defeated: 1 (Bob Shamansky of Ohio); open Dem seats lost: 3. > > 1974 (+43 seats): Dem incumbents defeated: 4 (Peter Kyros of Maine, Tom Luken of Ohio, Frank Clark of Penn., Frank Denholm of S.D); open Dem seats lost: 2. > > 1964 (+38 seats): Dem incumbents defeated: 5 (George Grant of Ala., Kenneth Roberts of Ala., George Huddleston of Ala., Ralph Harding of Idaho, J. Arthur Winstead of Miss.); open Dem seats lost: 5. > > 1958 (+49 seats): Dem incumbents defeated: 1 (Coya Knutson of Minn.); open Dem seats lost: 0. The mention of Coya Knutson made me chuckle. She lost in 1958 because her soon-to-be ex-husband ran newspaper ads asking her to stay at home and cook his breakfast. As others have noted, the question can be broadened, because it appears the Dems not only reelected every incumbent but held every Dem open seat. I know the GOP lost some GOP-held open seats in 1994, so I don’t believe this has ever been done. (Maybe in 1934, when the Dems won almost everything.) For a full answer you’d need a table of House, Senate, and governorship results, by party and by incumbent versus open seat. I don’t know where to find one. I wish I knew what the NPR guy used as a source. ---
**Author:** ![Measure\_for\_Measure](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/measure_for_measure/32/557_2.png) [@Measure\_for\_Measure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Measure_for_Measure)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/11 "2006-11-09T05:05:28Z")
William “[Cold Cash](http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/11/congressman_jef.html)” Jefferson, D of Louisiana deserves a mention. He was caught with $90,000 in his freezer which the FBI claims was the first installment of a $500,000 bribe. As a result, a number of Democrats ran against him in the primaries, which were held the same day as the election. Jefferson won 30%, so there will be a runoff in December. Presumably, Jefferson will lose at that point, so that’s one Democratic incumbant who will lose to another Democrat. Here’s a partial list of the [results](http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/LA.htm) : William J. Jefferson (D) 30%, St. Rep. Karen Carter (D) 22%, St. Sen. Derrick Shepherd (D) 18%, attorney Joseph “Joe” Lavigne (R) 13%, ex-St. Rep. / ex-New Orleans City Councilor Troy “C” Carter (D) 12%, attorney Regina Bartholomew (D) 1%, businessman John Edwards (D) 1%, Scott Barron (D) 1%… ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/12 "2006-11-09T13:10:43Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] [This article](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6286846) For a full answer you’d need a table of House, Senate, and governorship results, by party and by incumbent versus open seat. I don’t know where to find one. I wish I knew what the NPR guy used as a source. [/QUOTE] Such a map appears at [nytimes.com/ref/elections/2006/senate.html](http://nytimes.com/ref/elections/2006/senate.html) that displays “holds” (whether by the incumbent or party) in pink or light blue and gains in red or dark blue. There are similar maps for the HR and governors. There is no red on any of the three maps. The HR maps succeeds, although with considerable distortion of the map, in showing each of the 435 seats separately. Incidentally, both Sanders and Lieberman are shown in light blue, although Sanders is an Independent and replace an Independent (Jeffers, who was elected as a Republican). Of course they both plan to caucus with the Democrats. AFAIK, Lieberman still considers himself a Democrat, even if he was not the official party candidate. Nothing like this could have happened in Canada where the party leader must approve of every candidate bearing the party label and can replace any candidate for any reason whatever. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/13 "2006-11-09T14:38:03Z")
[QUOTE=Hari Seldon] Such a map appears at [nytimes.com/ref/elections/2006/senate.html](http://nytimes.com/ref/elections/2006/senate.html) [/QUOTE] That’s for _this_ election. To answer the question historically, I’d need a similar map for every election. **Measure for Measure** –Since Jefferson will run against another Democrat, if he loses, that has to be considered as a primary loss. Already we’ve had Cynthia McKinney lose to another Democrat in a primary. But that counts as an “open seat hold”, not a partisan loss, for purposes of this question. Poking around some more in earlier elections, note that in the 1994 GOP landslide, Patrick Kennedy caused the GOP an open-seat loss. He succeeded Republican Ronald Machtley, who ran unsuccessfully for Governor. Also, even in the Democratic tidal wave of 1934, [at least one Democratic incumbent](http://www.kshs.org/portraits/mccarthy_kathryn.htm) lost her seat. So, tentatively, I believe this is the _second_ time (after 1994) that a party has reelected every one of its Congressional incumbents, and the first time a party has both reelected every one of its incumbents and held every one of its open seats. ---
**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-any-democratic-incumbents-lose-last-night/379585/14 "2006-11-09T15:24:01Z")
[QUOTEThe mention of Coya Knutson made me chuckle. She lost in 1958 because her soon-to-be ex-husband ran newspaper ads asking her to stay at home and cook his breakfast. [/QUOTE] That was not so funny at the time. It still isn’t. It was a dark political conspiracy against an extraordinary woman whose alcoholic husband was manipulated by her political enemies. Full Story [here](http://www.biblio.com/books/102507099.html)