Latest on US House Representation

Its been five days since Election Day, and slowly the final numbers for the US House of Representatives that will be sworn in and seated on 3 January 2009 for the 111th Congress is coming into view. As of now it appears Democrats will have 257 seats to 178 for Republicans, a gain of 21 seats in this election for Democrats. Six races, however, remain undecided or unfinalized to some extent. Democrats may yet get to 260 seats for the next Congress. Here is the latest on these contests.
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ALASKA, at-large statewide district: Eighteen term incumbent Republican and scandal - ridden Don Young leads challenger Ethan Berkowitz by under 17,000 votes out of over 210,000 cast and counted thus far, or by 52 to 44 percent. It is estimated that perhaps as many as 80,000 or more absentee and military ballots remain to be counted. It may be until near or after Thanksgiving that we get a final result. Another factor in this race is the presence of Alaskan Independence Party candidate Don Wright on the ballot, where he has recieved nearly nine percent of the total vote thus far.

Even if Young does eventually lose this race, he may end up back in Washington DC as a US Senator to replace embattled Ted Stevens, who stands to be expelled from the Senate should he hold on to get re-elected in spite of being criminally convicted of seven felonies recently.
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CALIFORNIA, Fourth Congressional District: Nine term incumbent Republican John Doolittle, beset by enormous scandals including being linked to bribery with Jack Abramoff, announced last January he would not seek re - election. The contest to fill the seat, which covers a broad expanse of northeast California, is between Democrat Charlie Brown and Republican Tom McClintock. Results at this point show McClintock with a less than 1100 vote lead out of over 313,000 cast and counted thus far. However, thousands of mail in and provisional ballots remain to be counted. A final result should be announced sometime in the next ten days. This was one of only two congressional seats being vacated in California among its 53 seat representation, with District 52 being vacated by Republican Duncan Hunter, a former GOP presidential candidate after fourteen terms representing this district which covers northern and eastern San Diego County, a bastion of conservatism. The GOP successfully held this seat.
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A curious and interesting development in California, other than in the two seats previously mentioned, was the unanimous re - election of all 51 incumbents in the other congressional districts throughout the state.
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LOUISIANA, Second Congressional District: The Pelican State is unique in that it does not decide elections this year of two of its congressional districts until after the general election, with this year's contests being resolved by voters on Saturday, 6 December 2009. The general election earlier this week was essentially a primary runoff contest in this district. Nine term incumbent Democrat Willam Jennings "Bill" Jefferson , easily the most corrupt member of Congress, will face Republican challenger Anh Cao for this seat. Jefferson is under federal indictment for 19 counts of corruption and FBI agents have raided his office and home, finding $90,000 in cash wrapped in foil and frozen food containers in his freezer. In spite of his legal and ethical ills, Jefferson is favored to win re - election in this district which makes up areas around New Orleans and most of the city itself. His next term in the House may be short lived.
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LOUISIANA, Fourth Congressional District: Like the Second Congressional District in Louisiana, this district will hold its election for this seat on Saturday, 6 December 2009, after conducting a primary runoff on Election Day, 4 November 2009. Eleven term incumbent Republican Jim McCreary, who won the seat initially in a special election in April 1988 to fill out the remaining eight months left in a term vacated by Buddy Roemer, announced last December he was retiring. Republican John Fleming is matched up against Democrat Paul Carmouche to succeed McCreary. This district covers most of western and northwestern Louisiana and includes the city of Shreveport. Polling at this point indicates no clear favorite in the race which means the Democrats could make this a pickup.
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OHIO, Fifteenth Congressional District: This district covers parts of central Ohio, including parts of the city of Columbus and areas to the immediate south and north as well as wide expanse to the west. The district has been represented in Congress since January 1993 by Republican Deborah Pryce. Pryce announced almost 15 months ago she would retire and vacate the seat at the end of her current term. Republican Steve Stivers is seeking to hold the seat against Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy, who lost narrowly to Pryce in 2006. Currently Stivers leads Kilroy by 149 votes out over 259,000 cast and counted thus far, but over 27,000 mail in and provisional ballots, largely from perceived Democratic strongholds, remain to be counted. If Kilroy overcomes Stivers' current lead, this would another pickup for Democrats in the House. Final results are expected to be announced within the next two to three weeks.
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VIRGINIA, Fifth Congressional District: 646 votes currently separates Democrat Tom Periello from six term incumbent Republican Virgil Goode. Goode is losing the election at this point due to a number of controversies and questionable actions over his time in office, which includes a switch from the Democrats to an independent status to joining the Republicans within a three year span from early 2000 to August 2002, as well as the groundswell from the Obama presidential election success and associated Democratic coattails in The Old Dominion. An unknown number of uncounted votes remains to be tallied, and the balance of which party has the greater number of representatives in Virginia is also at stake. This district covers much of central and southern Virginia including the city of Charlottesville. Final results are anticipated in the next one to two weeks, but a recount may be necessary if the margin of victory remains at 0.5 % or less. Goode was the first Republican to represent this district since 1889.
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