While the Democrats lost more seats in the House of Representatives, and lost 8-9 seats in the US Senate and majority control as a result, there WERE Democratic triumphs worthy of mention!
Jeanne Shaheen won a second term in the Senate, defeating Scott Brown in the New Hampshire Senate race.
Al Franken won a second term in the Senate in Minnesota.
Jeff Merkley won a second term in the Senate in Oregon.
Dick Durbin won a fourth term in the Senate in Illinois.
Chris Coons won a second term in the Senate in Delaware.
Ed Markey won a first full term in the Senate in Massachusetts, after having a special election victory in 2013 to replace Secretary of State John Kerry.
Cory Booker won a full Senate term in New Jersey.
Tom Udall won a second Senate term in New Mexico.
Jack Reed won a fourth Senate term in Rhode Island.
Mark Warner won a second Senate term in Virginia after a very close race with Ed Gillespie.
Brian Schatz won the remainder of a full term in the Senate from Hawaii.
Gary Peters was a new Senator elected in Michigan, to replace retiring Senator Carl Levin.
In the Governorship elections, Andrew Cuomo in New York and Jerry Brown in California won major victories, and also, Democrats kept or gained control of Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont–a total of ten victories. Their biggest win, however, was Tom Wolf, defeating Tom Corbett, making Pennsylvania, the sixth largest state, run by Democrats again!
It is not that Democrats have a total great number of victories, but it is worth mentioning that they are far from giving up on regaining the Senate in 2016, and many Governorships are likely to go to the Democrats as part of a “wave”, helped along by the strong likelihood of a Democratic Presidential nominee winning in 2016, and by a substantial majority in the Electoral College!