The election is history — Democrats regained control of the House for the first time in a dozen years, while it was not clear whether Republicans would keep control of the Senate.
Thirty-three Senate seats and all 435 spots in the House of Representatives were up for grabs. Thirty-six states chose their governors.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is expected to become Speaker of the House when the new Congress convenes in January, thanked voters for helping Democrats pick up at least 15 seats from the Republicans. Many more are expected.
"From sea to shining sea, the American people voted for change," Pelosi said. "Today, we have made history, now let us make progress."
Some pro-life congressmen, like Ohio's Steve Chabot, survived the Democratic onslaught and will be coming back to Capitol Hill in January — but many key pro-family defenders won't.
In Indiana, Republican John Hostettler, the author of the Public Expression of Religion Act, lost to his Democratic challenger. In Kansas, Rep. Jim Ryun, a well-known pro-family lawmaker, went down to defeat. In Pennsylvania, which suffered a political meltdown, pro-family congressman Curt Weldon and a strong pro-life leader, Rep. Melissa Hart, both lost their seats. And stalwarts like J.D. Haworth in Arizona, and Kentucky congresswoman Anne Northup, won't be back as well.
Phyllis Schlafly, president of Eagle Forum, said the election was a referendum on President Bush, pure and simple.
"He's trying to run an unpopular war," she told CitizenLink. "But I don't understand why someone who's unhappy about Bush would vote against some of these good guys who are trying to hold the line on pro-family issues. But they did."
Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, said the change is extremely disappointing for pro-family conservatives — and will not be welcome news for their agenda.
While he agreed voters turned the election into a referendum on the president, the war and the scandals in Congress, he is still holding out hope.
There is still a chance the pro-family agenda is not dead on arrival.
"I think it is a setback for this administration, the Republicans losing control of the House," Perkins told CitizenLink. "But, if Republicans can hang onto the Senate, we'll have split-government gridlock in Washington."
However Amanda Banks, federal policy analyst for Focus on the Family Action, said Republican control of the Senate is highly problematic.
"As we speak, we're still waiting to hear the final results from two very important states — Virginia and Montana," Banks said. "If the Democrats can take one of those, then they will gain control of the Senate."
In Virginia, Republican George Allen is narrowly losing to Democrat James Webb — a former Navy Department official — by 7,000 votes. Both a recount and a legal challenge to the results are expected. And in Montana, incumbent Conrad Burns trails his challenger, Jon Tester, 50-48 percent, though significant absentee ballots remain to be counted.
Democrats also succeeded in knocking off a major pro-family leader in the Senate. Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Rick Santorum, as expected, was trounced by Democrat Bob Casey Jr., the state treasurer and son of the late pro-life Democratic governor.
"He will be sorely missed," Banks said. "Sen. Santorum has always been an outspoken leader on our issues, not just one who voted on the pro-family movement, but one who led on pro-family issues. He was not afraid to speak in support of traditional marriage, even when it was unpopular to do so. And he got quite an earful from the media when he made certain comments about traditional marriage.
"I will never forget the compelling and sincere remarks he made on the Senate floor on the partial-birth abortion ban."
Casey is considered pro-life, but does not support the federal Marriage Protection Amendment.
In Missouri, Sen. Jim Talent conceded to Democrat Claire McCaskill, who got last-minute campaigning help from actor Michael J. Fox, because she supported an initiative to enshrine human cloning and embryonic stem-cell research in the state's constitution.
In Ohio, Democratic Congressman Sherrod Brown took the Senate seat held by incumbent Republican Mike DeWine. But Phil Burress of Citizens for Community Values, said DeWine reaped what he had sown for many years among pro-family voters.
"Sen. DeWine was right on the abortion issue," Burress said. "He was a champion for life, but he came out against our marriage amendment in 2004. He was a member of the infamous Gang of 14 on judicial nominations. He was wrong on hate crimes. He was wrong on just about everything."
In Rhode Island, liberal Republican Lincoln Chafee lost to a Democrat, and in New Jersey, liberal Democrat Robert Menendez swamped his Republican challenger.
There were some bright spots — in Tennessee, Republican Bob Corker defeated Rep. Harold Ford, 51-to-49 percent.
Banks said there was little rhyme or reason to why Republicans lost — but lose they did.
"It wasn't just pro-family Republicans who lost," Banks said. "It wasn't just moderate-to-liberal Republicans who lost. It’s really a combination of factors — including a general dissatisfaction among voters with the performance of Congress in the past two years."
In 2004, she said, the Senate gained seven new social conservatives — all Republicans. Despite that the Senate spiked important pro-family bills.
"We had high hopes as we looked to legislation like the Marriage Protection Amendment," she added. "We were sorely disappointed when we made a very minimal gain on that important issue in 2006. We could not pass the Child Custody Protection Act in this year's Congress, which would allow parents a voice in the health decisions of their minor daughters. And there were other bills. None of that can be underestimated."
