Most Democrats were anticipating Hillary Clinton would have short coattails, but few anticipated that Donald Trump's coattails would end up helping many down-ballot Republicans win and even give several Democrats unexpectedly close calls. Yet that's what happened on Tuesday. Democrats scored a meager gain of 6 or 7 seats, depending on the final outcome in CA-49, and remarkably, Republicans will hold more seats than they did before 2014. Democrats picked up Republican open seats in FL-10, NV-03, and VA-04, all of which Clinton carried. As expected, they defeated GOP Reps. David Jolly (FL-13), Bob Dold (IL-10) and Cresent Hardy (NV-04), who sat in strong Clinton districts. They also defeated GOP Reps. John Mica (FL-07), Scott Garrett (NJ-05) and Frank Guinta (NH-01), who had no one to blame but themselves for their losses. But Democrats fell short in all of their other key targets, including stinging defeats in IA-01, ME-02, MN-02, NY-19 and TX-23 -- all of which they felt very optimistic about heading into Election Day. And, Republicans narrowly defeated Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford (NE-02) and picked up open seats

More from the Cook Political Report

Archives1984-2022
Free
CPR Archives
dw