U.S. House Races 2008

2008 U.S. House Races
Current: 235D, 199R, 1v

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Organization

National Republican Congressional Committee
Organization

The Cook Political Report
National Journal
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball

In the Nov. 7, 2006 mid-term elections, twenty-one incumbent House Republicans lost their seats, while Democratic members emerged unscathed. Forty-two of the 55 New Members in the 110th Congress were Democrats. A Jan. 23, 2007 memo from DCCC chairman Chris Van Hollen stated, "Looking ahead to 2008, Democrats will remain on the offense."

Democrats first worke to hold onto the seats they picked up in 2006. On Feb. 15, 2007 the DCCC announced 29 members of the "Frontline" program. According to the DCCC website the "Frontline" program "assists Democratic Members of Congress who are running in the toughest districts around the country." "This competitive program requires members to meet aggressive fundraising goals, accelerate volunteer and recruitment efforts, and increase on-line networking," the website stated. The DCCC also had a "Red to Blue" program that "highlights top Democratic campaigns across the country and offers them financial, communications, and strategic support." Supplementing "Red to Blue" the DCCC also had an "Emerging Races" program. According to the DCCC website, "In each of these races, Democratic candidates have generated excitement in their districts for their campaigns for change. As these campaigns continue to develop and demonstrate increasing strength, candidates will have an opportunity to qualify for the DCCC's Red to Blue program."

The difficult economic conditions seemed to favor further Democratic gains in the House in 2008. Democrats pointed to wins in special elections in IL-14 (Hastert seat) on March 8, LA-6 (Baker seat) on May 3, and MS-1 (Wicker seat) on May 13. Twenty-six House Republicans decided not to run for re-election in 2008, compared to just six Democrats.

Open Seats

District		Incumbent ...first elected	Democrat	Republican	More
AL-2	Southeast corner, Montgomery	Terry Everett (R) ...1992	Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright	State Rep. Jay Love
AL-5	Northern AL; strip right across the top	Robert E. “Bud” Cramer (D) ...1990	State Sen. Parker Griffith	businessman Wayne Parker
AZ-1	very large rural district	Rick Renzi (R) ...2002	State Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick	Sydney Hay, President of the Arizona Mining Association
CA-4	Roseville, Rocklin, Auburn north to OR border	John Doolittle (R) ...1990	Charlie Brown, police staff; '06 nominee	State Sen. Tom McClintock
CA-52	part of San Diego County	Duncan Hunter (R) ...1980	Mike Lumpkin, veteran	Duncan D. Hunter, veteran
CO-2	Boulder, areas NW of Denver	Mark Udall (D) ...1998	entrepreneur Jared Polis	Scott Starin, electronics project manager
CO-6	central Colorado south of Denver	Tom Tancredo (R) ...1998	aerospace engineer and consultant Hank Eng	Secretary of State Mike Coffman
FL-15	central Atlantic coast, Melbourne, Vero Beach...	Dave Weldon (R) ...1994	State Sen. Bill Posey	family physician Steve Blythe
IL-11	Northeast...Joliet, Bloomington/Normal	Jerry Weller (R) ...1994	Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson	businessman Marty Ozinga
IL-18	Peoria area	Ray LaHood (R) ...1994	former farm broadcaster Colleen Callahan	State Rep. Aaron Schock
KY-2	central KY; below the heel of IN	Ron Lewis (R) ...1994 special	State Sen. David Boswell	State Sen. Brett Guthrie
LA-4	Northwestern LA	Jim McCrery (R) ...1988 special	Primary Sept. 6 Oct. 4; Nov. 4 run-off	Primary Sept. 6 Oct. 4; Nov. 4 run-off
ME-1	southern coastal up to Augusta	Tom Allen (D) ...1996	Chellie Pingree, 2002 U.S. Senate nominee	Charlie Summers, veteran, former SBA official
MD-1	the Eastern Shore	Wayne Gilchrest (R) ...1990	State's Attorney Frank Kratovil, Jr.	State Sen. Andy Harris, M.D.
MN-3	suburban Hennepin County	Jim Ramstad (R) ...1990	Attorney, veteran Ashwin Madia	State Rep. Erik Paulsen	David Dillon
MS-3	diagonal swath from LA border north, east	Chip Pickering (R) ...1996	livestock broker Joel Gill	attorney Gregg Harper
MO-9	rural Northeast MO	Kenny Hulshof (R) ...1996	State Rep. Judy Baker	businessman, farmer Blaine Luetkemeyer
NJ-3	South Central NJ	Jim Saxton (R) ...1984 special	State Sen. John Adler	Councilman Chris Myers, works for Lockheed Martin
NJ-7	Plainfield to Ashbury Park	Mike Ferguson (R) ...2000	State Rep. Linda Stender, '06 nominee	State Sen. Leonard Lance
NM-1	Albuquerque	Heather Wilson (R) ...1998 special	former Albuquerque Councilman Martin Heinrich	Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White
NM-2	southern half of the state	Steve Pearce (R) ...2002	former Lea County Commissioner Harry Teague	business owner, restaurateur, and rancher Ed Tinsley
NM-3	northern half of the state	Tom Udall (D) ...1998	Public Regulation Commissioner Ben Ray Luján	business owner/contractor Dan East	Carol Miller
NY-13	Staten Island	Vito Fossella (R)	City Councilman Mike McMahon	Attorney and former Assemblyman Bob Straniere
NY-21	Albany area	Michael McNulty (D)	former State Rep. Paul Tonko	County legislator and businessman Jim Buhrmaster
NY-25	Syracuse to suburbs of Rochester	Jim Walsh (R)	senior vice president corporate development Dan Maffei, '06 nominee	Dale Sweetland
NY-26	a district in Western NY	Tom Reynolds (R)	retired attorney Alice Kryzan	businessman Chris Lee
OH-7	a district south of Columbus	David Hobson (R) ...1990	attorney Sharen Neuhardt	State Sen. Steve Austria
OH-11	Cleveland area	Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D)	Warrensville Heights Mayor Marcia Fudge
OH-15	Central OH, Columbus	Deborah Pryce (R) ...1992	Franklin County Commissioner Mary Jo Kilroy, '06 nominee	State Sen. Steve Stivers
OH-16	Northeastern OH district incl. Canton	Ralph Regula (R) ...1972	State Sen. John Boccieri	State Sen. Kirk Schuring
OR-5	central coast; Marion and Clackamas Cos.	Darlene Hooley (D) ...1996	State Sen. Kurt Schrader	business executive Mike Erikson, '06 nominee	Alex Polikoff
PA-5	all or parts of 17 cos in No. central PA	John Peterson (R) ...1996	Clearfield County Commissioner Mark B. McCracken	Glenn Thompson, Susquehanna Health Rehab Services Manager
TN-1	Northeast tip of the state	David Davis (R) ...2006	ETSU administrator and instructor Rob Russell	Johnson City Mayor Phil Roe
UT-3	Central and West UT	Chris Cannon (R) ...1996	Bennion Spencer, journalist, professor	Jason Chaffetz, corporate communications, marketing
VA-11	No. VA...Fairfax/ Prince William Cos	Tom Davis (R) ...1994	Chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Gerry Connolly	Keith Fimian, Chairman and Founder of U.S. Inspect
WY	the entire state	Barbara Cubin (R) ...1994	financial entrepreneur Gary Trauner, '06 nominee	former Wyoming State Treasurer Cynthia Lummis

Retiring:
Republicans (23): Barbara Cubin (WY) [Nov. 10, 2007]; Tom Davis (VA-11) [Jan. 30, 2008]; John Doolittle (CA-4) [Jan. 10, 2008]; Terry Everett (AL-2) [late Sept. 2007]; Mike Ferguson (NJ-7) [Nov. 19, 2007]; Vito Fossella (NY-13) [May 20, 2008]; David Hobson (OH-7) [Oct. 14, 2007]; Duncan Hunter (CA-52) [reported by the AP on March 21, 2007]; Ray LaHood (IL-18) [July 27, 2007]; Ron Lewis (KY-2) [Jan. 29, 2008]; Jim McCrery (LA-4) [Dec. 7, 2007]; John Peterson (PA-5) [Jan. 3, 2008]; Chip Pickering (MS-3) [reported Aug. 16, 2007]; Deborah Pryce (OH-15) [Aug. 16, 2007]; Jim Ramstad (MN-3) [Sept. 17, 2007]; Ralph Regula (OH-16) [Oct. 12, 2007]; Rick Renzi (AZ-1) [Aug. 23, 2007]; Tom Reynolds (NY-26) [Mar. 20, 2008]; Jim Saxton (NJ-3) [Nov. 9, 2007]; Tom Tancredo (CO-6) [Oct. 29, 2007]; Jim Walsh (NY-25) [Jan. 24, 2008]; Dave Weldon (FL-15) [Jan. 25, 2008]; Jerry Weller (IL-11) [Sept. 21, 2007]

Democrats (3): Robert E. "Bud" Cramer (AL-5) [March 13, 2008]; Darlene Hooley (OR-5) [Feb. 7, 2008]; Michael McNulty (NY-21) [reported Oct. 29, 2007]

Running/Ran for Other Office:
Republicans (3): Kenny Hulshof (MO-9) [nominee for Governor]; Heather Wilson (NM-1) [ran for U.S. Senate]; Steve Pearce (NM-2) [nominee for U.S. Senate]

Democrats (3): Tom Allen (ME-1) [nominee for U.S. Senate]; Tom Udall (NM-3) [nominee for U.S. Senate]; Mark Udall (CO-2) [nominee for U.S. Senate]

Defeated in Primary:
Republicans (3): Wayne Gilchrest (MD-1) [Feb. 12, 2008]; Chris Cannon (UT-3) [June 24, 2008]; David Davis (TN-1) [Aug. 7, 2008]

Democrats (1): Albert Wynn (MD-4) [Feb. 12, 2008; subsequently resigned; see below]

And:
Stephanie Tubbs Jones (OH-11) [died Aug. 20, 2008]

Special Elections

MD-4 - Donna Edwards (D) elected June 17, 2008. Rep. Albert Wynn (D) was defeated in the Feb. 12, 2008 primary and announced on March 27 that he would resign.

MS-1 - Travis Childers (D) elected in May 13, 2008 run-off. Rep. Roger Wicker (R) appointed to U.S. Senate by Gov. Haley Barbour, resigned on Dec. 31. *Dem. gain

LA-1 - Steve Scalise (R) elected May 3, 2008 (primaries on March 8, 2008; Republican run-off April 5). Rep. Bobby Jindal (R) elected Governor.

LA-6 - Don Cazayoux (D) elected May 3, 2008 (primaries on March 8, 2008; run-offs April 5). On Jan. 15, 2008 Rep. Richard Baker announced he would resign in February; he resigned effective Feb. 2, 2008. *Dem. gain

CA-12 - Jackie Speier (D) elected April 8, 2008. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-12) died on Feb. 11, 2008; he had announced in January that he would not seek re-election.

IN -7 - Andre Carson elected March 11, 2008 (ran again in the May 6, 2008 primary). Rep. Julia Carson (D) died on Dec. 15. 2007.

IL-14 - Bill Foster (D) elected March 8, 2008 (primary Feb. 5). Rep. Dennis Hastert (R) resigned effective Nov. 26, 2007 at 11:59 p.m.. *Dem. gain

VA-1 - Rob Wittman (R) elected on Dec. 11, 2007. Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R) died on Oct. 6, 2007.

OH-5 - Bob Latta (R) elected Dec. 11, 2007 (Nov. 6 primary). Rep Paul Gillmor (R) died on Sept. 4, 2007.

MA-5 - Niki Tsongas elected Oct. 16, 2007. Rep. Marty Meehan left office effective July 1, 2007 to become chancellor of the Univ. of Mass. at Lowell.

CA-37 - Laura Richardson (D) elected Aug. 21, 2007 (primary June 26). Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D) died on April 22, 2007.

GA-10 - Paul Broun (R) elected July 17, 2007 runoff (June 19). Rep. Charlie Norwood (R) died in Feb. 2007.