With results still coming in, newsmedia projected the Democratic Party fulfilled their goal of flipping the United States House of Representatives from red to blue.
And at almost 3:00am EST Wednesday morning, it became official when Democrats were declared the winners in 218 House seats. The 116th Congress will convene in January 2019 with Democrats in control of the House.
The House flipped from blue to red in the 2012 presidential election year. The 114th and 115th Congress saw Republicans controlling both houses after successfully taking control of the Senate from the Democrats during the 2014 midterm election.
MSNBC first projected a Democratic flip of the House with CNN, NBC and The New York Times following soon after.
Democrat Jennifer Wexton of Virginia beat incumbent Republican Barbara Comstock of Virginia to flip the first seat in the House.
@RepComstock May I introduce to your replacement @JenniferWexton #ChangeIsHere 💙💙 @LoveIndivisible #VA10 https://t.co/s7wUAueV8Y— ERA Now 💜 (@ERA Now 💜) 1541559494.0
She was soon followed by Democrat Donna Shalala winning the seat of retiring Republican Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen in Florida.
Other notable Democratic wins included Sharice Davids of Kansas and Deb Haaland of New Mexico who will became the first Native American women to ever serve in Congress. Ayanna Pressley became the first Black woman to represent Massachusetts in Congress.
.@sharicedavids becomes the first-ever Native American woman to serve in the House and the first openly gay represe… https://t.co/Yljn0o4BNu— Laurence Tribe (@Laurence Tribe) 1541559765.0
Democrat Sharice Davids has defeated Republican Kevin Yoder in Kansas. She is the first Native American women to s… https://t.co/dT01pJrykN— Denizcan James (@Denizcan James) 1541559477.0
HISTORIC: The race has been called! Congratulations, Deb Haaland - Congresswoman for New Mexico’s 1st District.… https://t.co/3Mnjl25IL7— Diné Millennials Today (@Diné Millennials Today) 1541559453.0
#BREAKING: Democrat Ayanna Pressley is projected to win in Massachusetts' 7th Congressional District, becoming the… https://t.co/qnXY77DJyh— NPR Politics (@NPR Politics) 1541552807.0
Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota become the first Muslim women to win seats in Congress as well.
BREAKING: Rashida Tlaib is the first Palestinian-American woman and the first Muslim woman ever elected to U.S. Con… https://t.co/4xRm7mlNMU— AJ+ (@AJ+) 1541556266.0
And New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez becomes the youngest woman ever elected to Congress.
HISTORIC FIRST: New York Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez becomes the youngest woman elected to Congress, CNN proj… https://t.co/z8iUBPXpQP— CNN Breaking News (@CNN Breaking News) 1541558810.0
New Democratic Representatives begin their terms in January. Several notable GOP incumbents failed to win their reelection bids.
Democrats flipped seats in Florida, New York, Kansas, Iowa, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Arizona, South Carolina, Oklahoma and Texas. The GOP flipped two seats, one in Pennsylvania and one in Minnesota.
In Maine's 2nd Congressional district, the state's new ranked choice voting came into play as neither of the two frontrunners, incumbent Republican Bruce Poliquin nor Democratic challenger Jared Golden managed to garner over 50 percent of voter support.
Maine became the first state in the nation to begin using ranked choice voting which allows voters to rank all candidates in order of their preference on the ballot, making a 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc... choice. Those rankings are used to decide the winner if no candidate receives over 50 percent of the initial tally. Once all precincts are at 100 percent reported, the instant runoff process begins using voters ranked choices.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi predicted a Democratic win, but people had doubts.
@mrog1016 @NancyPelosi https://t.co/ScmCogzBol— Helene Holstein (@Helene Holstein) 1541561892.0
"Today is more than about Democrats and Republicans. It's about restoring the Constitution's checks and balances to… https://t.co/kHlIeWkDKK— CNN (@CNN) 1541566633.0
People blamed outgoing Speaker of the House Paul Ryan—who retired rather than run for reelection.
@EsotericCD @vjeannek And it’s a Paul Ryan fail and not a Trump referendum— ABcync (@ABcync) 1541562105.0
If we had any Speaker other than swamp rat Paul Ryan the House wouldn't even be in question. #DrainTheSwamp— Switch625 ⭐⭐⭐ (Doug) 🇺🇸 (@Switch625 ⭐⭐⭐ (Doug) 🇺🇸) 1541562715.0
While the President referred to the night as a success despite losses in the House and in Governor's races.
Tremendous success tonight. Thank you to all!— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1541564079.0
For your records, @realDonaldTrump. In case you were wondering. https://t.co/MZUWcNwfGk— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa Milano) 1541571370.0
Plenty of people celebrated online.
Many also projected what a blue House of Representatives would mean for the Trump administration.
DEMOCRATS WIN BACK THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸— Jon Cooper 🇺🇸 (@Jon Cooper 🇺🇸) 1541561382.0
Democrats taking over the House is a huge deal. Now @RepJerryNadler will chair House Judiciary and @RepAdamSchiff w… https://t.co/gcemnsMyba— Laurence Tribe (@Laurence Tribe) 1541561176.0
Winning the House means Trump can’t pass laws without Democratic votes. It gives Democrats a seat at the table. It… https://t.co/UR7G7gJYiJ— Renato Mariotti (@Renato Mariotti) 1541561138.0
I see more Democrats, than Republicans being voted in house, and lots of Women Winning too #History #electionday #VoteDem #VoteBlue— Christina M. Guiel (@Christina M. Guiel) 1541562293.0
Democrats Are Now Projected to Take Back the House — And the Power to Investigate President Trump: NBC News… https://t.co/lRTj4yl8Ue— ɓ૨εƭ ɦαƭεร ƭ૨µɱρ (@ɓ૨εƭ ɦαƭεร ƭ૨µɱρ) 1541562282.0
BREAKING: Checks and Balances coming to Congress. Democrats take back US House of Representatives. @RepAdamSchiff n… https://t.co/ObdftloE1E— The JENN MIC! (@The JENN MIC!) 1541562276.0
Winning candidates took to Twitter to thank their supporters and congratulate each other.
Thank you, #KS03. https://t.co/sRKrFv7eIv— Sharice Davids (@Sharice Davids) 1541573383.0
Thank you New Mexico. Thank you to my family. And thank you Team Deb, for your tireless work to get us here! Togeth… https://t.co/uGDFuJULSp— Deb Haaland (@Deb Haaland) 1541567665.0
Congratulations to my sister @RashidaTlaib on your victory! I cannot wait to serve with you, inshallah. 🙏🏾— Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan Omar) 1541555273.0
Congratulations @AyannaPressley! Can't wait to serve with you.— Rashida Tlaib (@Rashida Tlaib) 1541552893.0
.@RashidaTlaib, @AyannaPressley and @IlhanMN are coming to Congress to work with me, IN THE MAJORITY, which is the… https://t.co/qUkT2FtBWY— Pramila Jayapal (@Pramila Jayapal) 1541567995.0
By the next afternoon, Democrats flipped 29 seats with 222 House seats designated as won by a Democrat. Over a dozen seats still had no declared winner by late Wednesday afternoon.