Notes From Nov 3rd Mentor 9-12 Project Discussion Panel

Election Recap

Current US House  178 (R)  -  257 (D)  -  New US House  -  240 (R)  -  185 (D)  with 10 races undecided.  The most Republicans in the House since 1948 when they had 246 seats.

More Ohio congressional incumbents lost than in any other state.  (5)  NY and PA tied when you include open seats.

George Soros funded Secretary of State Project Supported 7 candidates – 2 won, 5 lost

African-American GOP Winners – Allen West in Florida and Tim Scott South Carolina.  Fourteen black Republicans were on House ballots nationwide, almost double the number in 2008.

In New Mexico, Susana Martinez was elected as the nation's first female Hispanic governor. Nikki Haley, whose parents were born in India, will be the first woman governor in South Carolina, and Brian Sandoval became Nevada's first Hispanic governor.

Dan Webster crushed the obnoxious Alan Grayson in the 8th District of Florida.  Grayson said on the House floor that the GOP health care plan was to "die quickly," and ran the "Taliban Dan" ad. 

18 state legislators switched to Republican control.

"I hope he fails."  With those famous four words, uttered January 16, 2009 -- only days before Barack Obama was to be inaugurated -- Rush Limbaugh drew a line in the sand.  And as a result, this morning it is Rush Limbaugh who is the undisputed winner of the 2010 election.   American Spectator

South Dakota Republican challenger Kristi Noem, riding a wave of voter discontent with President Obama's administration, defeated Democrat U.S. Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin in Tuesday's election.

Republican Mark Kirk has defeated Democrat Alexi Giannoulias in the U.S. Senate race.  Kirk has captured the Senate seat once held by the president, dealing an embarrassing blow to Democrats

Congressman Bob Etheridge Loses To Republican Renee Ellmers in North Carolina.  The race drew national attention earlier this year, when Congressman Etheridge was shown in a video to be apparently assaulting a young man who questioned him about his political record on a Washington DC sidewalk.  Etheridge served for 14 years in Congress and Ellmers is a registered nurse in Dunn.

Illinois Congressman Phil Hare who didn’t worry about the Constitution, loses district to Bobby Schilling.  The 28-year hold Democrats have had on the 17th U.S. Congressional District has come to an end.

The House races were largely fought on Republican-leaning turf, but the key Senate fights were in deep blue states.

There will be 18 states subject to reapportionment. The Republicans will control a majority of those — at least ten and maybe a dozen or more. More significantly, a minimum of seventeen state legislative houses have flipped to the Republican Party.
The North Carolina Legislature is Republican for the first time since 1870. Yes, that is Eighteen Seventy.
The Alabama Legislature is Republican for the first time since 1876.
For those saying this is nothing because it is the South, consider these:
The entire Wisconsin and New Hampshire legislatures have flipped to the GOP by wide margins.
The State Houses in Indiana, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, Montana, and Colorado flipped to the GOP.
The Maine and Minnesota Senates flipped to the GOP.   
The Texas and Tennessee Houses went from virtually tied to massive Republican gains. The gains in Texas were so big that the Republicans no longer need the Democrats to get state constitutional amendments out of the state legislature.

According to the Center for American Women and Politics (CAWP) at Rutgers University, 298 women indicated their intent by filing to run for House and Senate seats in the 2010 midterm elections --  (36 Senate, 262 House.)

What makes the 2010 election year stand out is the surge in the number of Republican women running for Congress -- a fact lauded by conservatives and highlighted by mainstream media.

With a record number of female GOP candidates throwing their hats into the ring (145 total, 17 Senate and 128 House), pundits soon began declaring 2010 as "the Year of the Republican Women." (In comparison, 153 Democratic women filed to run for Congress in 2010 - 19 for the Senate and 134 for the House.)