State-by-State Northeast

Connecticut

Joe Lieberman lost his primary because many Democrats thought he was a tool of the White House, then came back to win re-election as an independent over anti-war Democrat Ned Lamont. Three House Republicans struggled to hold their seats – most prominently Chris Shays, under fire for his support of the war.

Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell barely broke a sweat in winning a full term. (She took over in 2004 from scandal-soaked John Rowland, whose next address was prison.)

Delaware

Republican Rep. Michael Castle and Democratic U.S. Sen. Thomas Carper will return to Washington after re-election victories. And Democrat Beau Biden, son of Delaware’s senior U.S. senator, narrowly defeated a career prosecutor in the race for attorney general.

District of Columbia

Democratic mayoral hopeful Adrian Fenty, an energetic young lawyer and City Council member, cruised to victory in a city where 74 percent of voters are registered Democrats. Ditto for Eleanor Holmes Norton, who was unopposed for a ninth term as the District of Columbia’s nonvoting representative in Congress.

Maine

She’s a Republican in a traditionally blue state, but Sen. Olympia Snowe easily won a third term over a Democrat and an independent who never gained traction against the well-financed, moderate incumbent. Democratic Gov. John Baldacci survived challenges from the right and left in winning a five-way race.

Maryland

Lt. Gov. Michael Steele – Maryland’s first black elected statewide official – won’t be its first black senator. The Republican lost to Democratic Rep. Ben Cardin in the race for an open seat.

Robert Ehrlich, Maryland’s first Republican governor since the 1960s, lost to Democratic Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley. Ehrlich’s misfortune? Anti-Bush sentiment and struggles with the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

Massachusetts

Democrat Deval Patrick became the first black elected governor of Massachusetts, defeating GOP Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey – who had hoped to be the first woman elected to the office. Patrick led the Justice Department’s civil rights division under President Clinton.

Ted Kennedy easily won an eighth term that will extend his Senate career to an even 50 years in 2012.

New Hampshire

Democrat Paul Hodes ousted six-term incumbent Rep. Charles Bass in a rematch of the 2002 race. Bass tried to distance himself from the Bush administration’s Iraq and energy policies.

New Jersey

A steel-cage, attack-ad death match ended with Democratic Sen. Robert Menendez victorious over Republican Tom Kean Jr. Kean had accused Menendez of corruption, and Menendez had reminded voters at every turn that Kean, son of a popular former governor, supported President Bush’s war in Iraq.

New York

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton routed her conservative Republican challenger for a second, six-year term, a cakewalk that had some supporters chanting: “Two more years!” A mere tuneup for a 2008 run for the White House?

Democrat Eliot Spitzer, the “Sheriff of Wall Street” who won fame as New York’s crime-busting attorney general, became the state’s first new governor in 12 years.

Democrat Andrew Cuomo, elder son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, won Spitzer’s old job and resurrected his political career. Comptroller Alan Hevesi survived a political scandal over his use of a state-paid chauffeur for his wife.

Pennsylvania

State Treasurer Bob Casey, a Democrat opposed to abortion and gun control, shook the landscape by beating Rick Santorum, the No. 3 Senate Republican.

Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell scored in his re-election bid over Republican Lynn Swann, the Steelers Hall of Fame receiver, whose campaign never quite caught on.

Rhode Island

Incumbent Lincoln Chafee didn’t even vote for President Bush, but Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse defeated the patrician Republican by lashing him to the administration. Chafee held his seat for seven years, and his father held it for 23 years before that.

Republican Gov. Don Carcieri, battling Democrat Lt. Gov. Charlie Fogarty, boasted that his administration exposed corruption in a notoriously corrupt state.

Vermont

In the Senate, Vermont traded independents – self-described socialist Rep. Bernie Sanders defeating Republican opponent Richard Tarrant to take the seat held by retiring Sen. James Jefford.

Republican Gov. Jim Douglas won a third, two-year term, beating feisty challenger Democrat Scudder Parker.

Associated Press