WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina was in charge of the National Republican Congressional Committee, the organization dedicated to supporting his party’s campaigns in the House.
But the seven-term MP failed to retain his seat this year. Republicans floundered in state after party organizations support removed of Michael Whatley, their candidate for the US Senate, as he failed to gain ground against Democratic candidate Roy Cooper.
Hudson lost North Carolina’s 9th District to Richard Ojedaa former Army major who became a liberal social media phenomenon during President Donald Trump’s first term. He ran several races in West Virginia, then returned to North Carolina, where he had served at Fort Bragg, and ran successfully against Hudson.
“Our victory is not only impressive because of the number of seats we gained — although we won a lot — what was incredible last night was how far into deep red territory we reached,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene, chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Ojeda arrived on Capitol Hill this week, one of several new members to score upset victories this year. Here’s a look at some of them.
Colorado’s 5th District
This neighborhood is home to NORAD, Fort Carson and the Air Force Academy, as well as the evangelical group Focus on the Family.
Although Colorado Springs has been a conservative stronghold for years, the city is slowly becoming more moderate as young families move in. Its veteran population was also disturbed by Trump’s approach to the military and the war in Iran.
Jessica Killin, a Democrat and former Army captain, took the opportunity to run as a moderate against Rep. Jeff Crank, who previously led the Colorado chapter of the conservative group Americans For Prosperity. She hammered him for lining up behind Trump once he entered the House.
Nevada’s 2nd District
Former state lawmaker Teresa Benitez-Thompson made history as the first Democrat to win Nevada’s 2nd Congressional District after her Republican opponent David Flippo’s campaign was muddied by accusations of exaggerating her military background and failing to make required financial disclosures on time.
Benitez-Thompson campaigned as a moderate with longtime roots in Northern Nevada, contrasting with Flippo, who aligned himself closely with Trump and left Southern Nevada to join the race after longtime Republican Mark Amodei. announced his retirement. Amodei refused to endorse Flippo, calling it a fraud.
For the first time, all of Nevada’s congressional seats will be held by Democrats.
Wisconsin’s 1st District
Rep. Republican. Bryan Steil won his previous four elections in this southeastern Wisconsin district by at least 9 points. Before him, former House Speaker Paul Ryan held the seat for two decades, and no Democrat has won since 1993.
All these factors made it unlikely that the Democratic newcomer Mitchell Bermanleading his first campaign for office, would win this year. But Berman, an emergency room nurse, tapped into voters’ anger and leveraged his middle-class background to beat Steil by nearly 4 points.
The outcome will have implications for Wisconsin politics, as Steil was widely considered a likely candidate for U.S. Senate.
Texas 23rd district
The race opened when Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales announced he would not seek re-election after admit to an affair with a former staff member who later committed suicide. Primary voters chose Brandon Herreraa gun-loving YouTuber with some 4 million subscribers and a history of caustic comments, to run in his place.
Democrats nominated Katy Padilla Stout, a lawyer and former teacher, but she was thought to have little chance. The district had not elected a Democrat since 2012. She ended up winning by 8 points.
Texas 9th District
This district was once considered so blue that Republicans didn’t even field a candidate to run there in 2024. But a year later, at Trump’s urging, the state Legislature redrew the congressional map, making it much more conservative. Democrats and their donors felt the seat was a lost cause as Democrat Leticia Gutierrez, who had previously worked in Houston city government, went up against Republican Alex Mealer, a well-funded military veteran active in conservative politics.
“Everyone thought it was a done deal that this was written for Republicans,” Gutierrez said in an interview with The Associated Press. “They just weren’t going to invest their time, money and resources in someone who had never run a congressional campaign.”
Then Gutierrez beat Mealer by just over 15 points.
Indiana’s 5th District
Rep. Victoria Spartz has been a wild card in the Republican caucus, often withholding support for legislation until the final minutes as she seeks concessions from party leaders.
But the Ukrainian-born congresswoman appeared to be a safe re-election prospect in conservative Indiana, particularly in her affluent suburban and rural district north of Indianapolis. The seat only became redder in 2021, when the state Legislature removed parts of Marion County’s Democratic-leaning areas and added conservative rural areas. Two years ago, Trump won by 17 percentage points, and Spartaz by even more.
But this year, JD Ford, a Democratic senator, beat Spartz by 3.4 percentage points.
New Jersey’s 2nd District
There aren’t many red seats left in the Northeast, but one is in the southeast corner of New Jersey. The district ranges from resort towns to pine forests, and it is represented by Rep. Jeff Van Drew. He was first elected to Congress as a conservative Democrat in 2018, before switching parties in 2020 following Trump’s first impeachment.
Van Drew continued to seek re-election until this week, when he lost to Zack Mullock, the Democratic mayor of Cape May. Mullock focused on Van Drew’s support for the president, attacking him during a debate over the Iran war and tariffs. Van Drew argued that his ties to Trump would benefit the district.
Iowa’s 2nd District
When Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson decided to run for U.S. Senate, it left an open race for her House seat in northeast Iowa. The Republican candidate was Joe Mitchell, a former state lawmaker, and Trump visited Dubuque just two days before the election to try to increase turnout.
Mitchell lost to Lindsay James, a Democratic state lawmaker and a minister.
“I’m going to stay focused on reducing costs for hard-working families here in my district because that’s what they’ve asked me to do,” James said in an interview.
His victory was bolstered by two other candidates on the ballot — one Libertarian and one unaffiliated — who received more votes than James’ margin over Mitchell.
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Associated Press writers Hannah Fingerhut, Mike Catalini, Thomas Beaumont, Jesse Bedayn, Scott Bauer and Jessica Hill contributed to this report.
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