Congratulations to our newest member of congress, IL-14's Bill Foster who had a huge victory last night, taking the seat previously held by the former Republican Speaker of the House by 7 points.

Chris Von Hollen's statement on the win:

"Congratulations to Bill Foster on his victory tonight. Bill Foster's victory in the seat that was held by Speaker Hastert sends a political shock wave across America this election year. It is a stunning rejection of the Bush Administration, its Republican allies, and presidential nominee John McCain. Republican candidates learned tonight that Senator McCain, who campaigned with the Republican nominee, cannot save them from defeat this November against strong Democratic challengers, even in districts that voted overwhelmingly for President Bush.

"Despite spending 20 percent of the their cash on hand, the NRCC was unable to hold a seat easily won by President Bush and held by Speaker Hastert for 20 years.  Americans of all political stripes are rejecting Republicans' divisive, status quo politics and turning to Democratic candidates for change.  I am   grateful to Senator Dick Durbin, Senator Barack Obama, and the Illinois Democratic delegation and candidates for encouraging the people of this district to vote for change by supporting Bill Foster.

"Voters of all political stripes responded to Bill Foster's commitment to change. With his unique background as a respected scientist and a successful businessman, Bill Foster will be a tremendous asset to our Democratic Caucus, as we continue fighting to strengthen our economy and ease the squeeze on America's struggling middle class families."

Now, this was a special election against a flawed Republican candidate held on a Saturday in a blue-trending district district that is represented by Barack Obama in the senate. In other words, at this moment in time, it may have been as close to a perfect storm as we could have hoped for. But even with that, to win by 7% in a district that went for Bush in 2004 by 5% more than the nation as a whole did (PVI R+5) is remarkable. If this is at all indicative of what's to come in November, and I think it is, it's going to be a rough fall for the GOP. Just a cursory glance at the Cook Political Report's Competitive House Races Chart lists 33 seats currently held by Republicans in R+5 districts or better. And that doesn't even count seats that are technically even redder but where we have real shots (i.e. NM-02, AK-AL, WY-AL.)