College Dems Rejoice as Democrats Take House and Majority of Governerships

Harvard alums prevailed in gubernatorial races in New York, Massachusetts, and Michigan, and Democrats captured a majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the first time since the 1994 Republican Revolution, as voters dealt a blow to the Bush administration yesterday.

The results set the stage for the first-ever woman speaker of the House—the closest a woman has ever come to the presidency—and an end to four years of one-party government in Washington.

At press time, the Democrats had won 221 seats and appeared on pace to pick up an additional 13, according to Associated Press projections. Going into yesterday’s elections, Democrats held just 201 of the 435 House seats.

In addition to their gains in the House, Democrats also won a majority of state governorships and gained seats in the Senate, though it was not clear whether they had picked up the six seats needed for a majority at press time. Democrats also made significant gains in winning governorships yesterday. Going into the election, Democrats held 22 state houses while the Republicans held 28. But Democrats netted six governorships, marking the first time since 1994 that Democrats controlled a majority.

“The [1994] Gingrich revolution had a cleansing effect—if the Democrats win 25 seats tonight, it’s a healthy night for democracy as well,” David Gergen, a Kennedy School of Government professor and former adviser to three Republican presidents and one Democrat, said at an Institute of Politics (IOP) event last night. In 1994, Republicans gained majorities in both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years.

Despite the dramatic gains by the Democrats, Newsweek assistant managing editor Evan W. Thomas ’73 said that he didn’t foresee dramatic changes on Capitol Hill.

“I think pretty much nothing is going to happen,” Thomas, a former Crimson editor and current Kennedy School visiting professor, said. “There’s one chance in 20 that a new Bush will emerge and [will] try to do something responsible, but I wouldn’t hold your breath.”

IOP ATTENDEES PREDICTED GOP LOSSES

In keeping with the conventional wisdom of most political pundits over the past several weeks, most Harvard students who watched the returns at the IOP election night party predicted that Republicans would lose control of the House but that control of the Senate would be close.

Harvard College Democrats President Eric P. Lesser ’07 forecasted early in the night that Democrats would gain 25 seats in the House and 6 in the Senate—enough for a bare majority. He also hailed his own club’s efforts, noting that in the states where the Dems campaigned, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, their candidates triumphed.

“What’s important is that in places where we worked very hard—Rhode Island and Massachusetts—[Democratic victories] have been borne out, so we’re happy,” Lesser said.

In Rhode Island, moderate Republican Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee was defeated by former state attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse. And in Massachusetts, Democrat Deval L. Patrick ’78 won the state’s governorship. In addition to campaigning for Patrick at home, the Dems had taken several trips to Rhode Island to campaign for Whitehouse. And the club also stumped for Democrat Bob Casey Jr. in his successful bid to oust Republican Sen. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania.

But John M. Souther ’07, president of the Harvard Republicans Club, maintained confidence throughout the night, saying that his party’s fortunes could still be salvaged.

“Everything so far is going as expected—some of the more marginal seats we’ve lost, but Tennessee and Missouri are looking good,” Souther said around 9 p.m., referring to contests critical for maintaining Republican control in the Senate.

Despite the good fortunes on display for Democrats, the IOP’s big screen was tuned to FOX for much of the night, drawing ire from attendees with liberal leanings.

When the IOP cut off beer sales for the night, tension came to a head, prompting a group of students to begin chanting “More Beer, Less Fox!” in the midst of the forum floor.

When asked about the choice of channel, IOP Director Jeanne Shaheen said, “We’re trying to cover all the networks.” But Souther admitted that the Republicans were part of the force behind the choice of FOX, saying that his club “definitely pushed for it.”

OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY

A week and a half before the Harvard-Yale Game, Law School alum Eliot Spitzer captured the New York governorship previously held by Eli George Pataki. The Democrat Spitzer won 69 percent of the vote in a race against a little-known Republican former state assemblyman.

Another Democratic Harvard Law grad, incumbent Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm, held off a challenge from the millionaire Richard DeVos.

Meanwhile, in Ohio, Rep. Ted Strickland, a former Methodist minister, took the state’s governorship in a rout, marking the first time that Ohio has seen a Democratic chief since 1990.

That result is significant because of Ohio’s status as a swing state in presidential races.

“If these statehouses fall the way the predictions are, then the country’s going to be blue,” Shaheen, a former Democratic governor from New Hampshire, had said before many of the results were in. “Those governors are going to have a lot to do with what happens in their states in the 2008 election.”

—Staff writer Paras D. Bhayani can be reached at pbhayani@fas.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Clifford M. Marks can be reached at cmarks@fas.harvard.edu.