In regards to the Senate races, there were 33 seats up for election this cycle and of those seats, 23 Democrats, 8 Republicans and 2 Independents were elected. This resulted in a net gain of +2 for the Democrats allowing them to hold the majority with 55 seats in the Senate (the two Independents will caucus with Democrats) while Republicans hold 45 seats. A total of 12 freshmen will be inaugurated into the Senate in 2013 (8D, 3R, 1Ind). All of the Senate races were determined on Election Day or the following day.
Finally, the House is expecting a large freshman class of 84 for the 113th Congress. Of those new faces joining in 2013, there are 35 Republicans and 49 Democrats. If the numbers hold, there will be a net gain for the Democrats of +8 but the Republicans will still hold the majority with approximately 234 seats while the Democrats will have 201. There were 27 incumbents that lost in the General Election – 10 from the Democratic Party and 17 from the Republican Party. In the past couple of weeks, some of more hotly contested races have finally been called after recounts, and candidates were forced to concede. In the 7th District of North Carolina, the incumbent Mike McIntyre (D) defeated challenger David Rouzer (R), the incumbent in the 2nd District in Arizona, Ron Barber (D), defeated Martha McSally (R), and in the 18th District in Florida, Patrick Murphy (D) defeated incumbent Allen West (R) in an extremely tight race. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D) in Illinois’ 2nd congressional district has announced his resignation this week. The special election to fill this vacancy will be held next spring and will bring the total number of freshmen in the 113th Congress to 85.