Republicans Sweep House Races; Oberstar Loses

Republicans swept races to put them in firm control of the House of Representatives come January, including the Minnesota seat now held by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar.

Democrats held the Senate with at least 51 seats, for the first time since World War II that a wave election did not shift control of both chambers. Majority Leader Harry Reid won a tight race to keep his Nevada seat, but Democratic losses included the re-election bids of Sen. Russ Feingold in Wisconsin and Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas plus the Illinois seat formerly held by President Obama.

With some races not yet settled, the GOP picked up at least 60 House seats, a larger gain than during the 1994 Republican wave in which they recaptured the House for the first time in decades. The results position GOP Leader John Boehner to replace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House, the third-highest position in U.S. government and in line of succession to the presidency.

Oberstar, who was first elected in 1974, was toppled by former Navy and commercial pilot Chip Cravaack in a race that had appeared safe for the House chairman until just a few weeks ago. A strong backer of the economic stimulus package and author of a plan to give surface transportation programs a major boost, Oberstar was a detail-oriented expert on U.S. transportation issues.

But Oberstar was unable to get Congress and President Obama to build more job-creating infrastructure investments into the 2009 stimulus or join him to pass long-term transportation legislation, while a slow recovery undermined the stimulus with voters. Cravaack and allies sharply attacked Oberstar’s support for the new health care law, and portrayed the congressman as out of touch with his district. Oberstar lost by 4,000 votes out of 273,000 cast.

The wave of Republicans taking over the House on Tuesday also swept out Rep. Gene Taylor, D-Miss., one of the most passionate supporters of the Coast Guard and U.S. merchant marine in Congress.

Contact John Boyd at jboyd@joc.com.