Mid-Atlantic: Delaware

50-state roundup

Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D) was easily reelected to a second term over Temple University professor Jan Ting (R), receiving 70 percent of the vote. In a race that drew more attention because of its name value, Beau Biden (D) -- son of Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D) -- defeated veteran prosecutor Ferris Wharton (R) to become Delaware's attorney general.

District of Columbia

D.C. Council member Adrian M. Fenty was elected mayor of the District, carrying almost 90 percent of the vote in the overwhelmingly Democratic city. Washington's longtime delegate to Congress, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), ran unopposed for her ninth term. Council member Vincent C. Gray (D) became council chairman without opposition.

Maryland

With a big showing in Washington's heavily populated suburbs, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley (D) ousted Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R), returning control of the Free State's executive mansion to the Democratic Party after a four-year hiatus. O'Malley handily overcame questions about crime and schools in his city, dashing Ehrlich's well-funded efforts to woo moderates and become the state's first two-term GOP governor in 50 years.

In a double blow for the GOP in the historically blue state, Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) defeated Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele (R) in the race to succeed retiring Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes (D). Steele, a former Maryland party chairman who is African American, was tapped by GOP leaders to make inroads in a state where President Bush won only 43 percent of the vote in 2004. Steele ran a spirited campaign marked by sharp and amusing television ads. But Cardin, a 20-year House incumbent steeped in social program policies, attacked the war in Iraq and the GOP record in Washington.

In the race for Cardin's 3rd District seat, the easy winner was lawyer and community activist John Sarbanes (D), son of the retiring senator.

New Jersey

Sen. Robert Menendez (D) held off a strong challenge by state Sen. Thomas H. Kean Jr. (R), winning the seat to which he was appointed last year by Gov. Jon S. Corzine (D).

Republicans banked heavily on Kean, namesake son of a popular former governor, as their best hope of unseating a Democratic incumbent. Kean hammered at Menendez's ethics, contending that he is under federal investigation, an accusation that the Hudson County political boss dismissed. Menendez campaigned on his opposition to the Iraq war and Bush and was helped by New Jersey's long-standing tilt toward Democrats.

North Carolina

Former NFL quarterback Heath Shuler (D) defeated eight-term Rep. Charles H. Taylor (R) in the 11th District, a bellwether case for how the GOP's ethical troubles swamped even the best-funded candidates in a Republican-friendly western North Carolina district. Shuler, a star at the University of Tennessee and a onetime Washington Redskin, campaigned on conservative social values and populist themes of trade and economics. Taylor won 55 percent of the vote in 2004, but his personal business fortune brought charges of corruption over the years.

Pennsylvania

Gov. Edward G. Rendell (D) stormed past Hall of Fame NFL receiver Lynn Swann (R) to a second term, helping lead a Democratic wave in the Keystone State.

In one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country, State Treasurer Robert P. Casey Jr. (D), son of a popular two-term governor, overwhelmed Sen. Rick Santorum, ousting the Senate GOP's No. 3 leader, whose high-profile stands as a social conservative put him out of step with many voters.

In House races, four Republican incumbents lost.

Curt Weldon, damaged by an FBI investigation into whether he helped steer contracts to his daughter's consulting firm, was beaten in the 7th District by retired Navy Vice Adm. Joe Sestak (D).

Don Sherwood lost his 10th District seat to Chris Carney (D), a Pennsylvania State University associate professor and former Pentagon aide. Sherwood was damaged by revelations of an extramarital affair and reports that he paid his former mistress $500,000 to settle a lawsuit in which she alleged physical abuse. Sherwood denied the allegations, continued campaigning, and ended up with 47 percent of the vote.

Melissa Hart, a three-term incumbent who received 63 percent of the vote in the 4th District two years ago, got only 48 percent this time in her upset loss to former hospital association executive Jason Altmire (D).

In the 8th District, Michael G. Fitzpatrick lost to Patrick Murphy (D), a 33-year-old Iraq veteran making his first run for public office.

Virginia

[UPDATE: Sen. Allen conceded the race on Nov. 10. Jim Webb's victory in the Virginia Senate race gives Democrats the six seats they needed to regain a majority.]

It could be weeks before a winner is declared in the Senate race between incumbent George Allen (R) and Democratic challenger James Webb. With a late-November recount all but certain, Webb led by about 7,000 votes out of more than 2 million cast. If the margin holds, Webb will have pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the election, defeating an incumbent and former governor whose campaign was supposed to be a shakedown cruise to a presidential bid in 2008.

Instead, Allen imploded. He called an Indian American campaign aide for Webb "macaca" in an incident caught on video and widely publicized. He was accused of routinely using racial epithets as a younger man. He reacted angrily when asked to acknowledge his Jewish heritage during a debate.

Webb, a former Republican who was a Vietnam War hero and Navy secretary under President Ronald Reagan, took advantage of the anti-Washington and anti-incumbent mood. Campaigning in combat boots as his son went to fight in Iraq, Webb criticized the war and struck populist themes, casting himself as a politician who was guided by the ethos of a warrior.

In House races, Rep. Thelma D. Drake (R) beat back a challenge to her 2nd District seat by Virginia Beach Revenue Commissioner Philip J. Kellam (D), holding on to a Republican Tidewater district. In Northern Virginia, Frank R. Wolf (R) easily bested Georgetown University dean Judy Feder (D) to retain his seat in the 10th District. James P. Moran Jr. (D) won another term in the 8th District, and Thomas M. Davis III (R) held his seat in the 11th District.

West Virginia

In the 1st District, Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D) survived a year of congressional scandal, defeating state Del. Christopher Wakim (R) to earn a 13th term. Mollohan overcame his dismissal from the House ethics committee, investigations of his real estate dealings and allegations that he used his influence to shift millions of taxpayer dollars to friends and relatives. Mollohan will keep his Appropriations Committee seat.

Throughout the state, any sense of suspense ended for unnamed schools, bridges and dams: Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D) won a ninth term over John Raese (R), positioning Byrd to extend his record as longest-serving U.S. senator and top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.

West Virginia

In the 1st District, Rep. Alan B. Mollohan (D) survived a year of congressional scandal, defeating state Del. Christopher Wakim (R) to earn a 13th term. Mollohan overcame his dismissal from the House ethics committee, investigations of his real estate dealings and allegations that he used his influence to shift millions of taxpayer dollars to friends and relatives. Mollohan will keep his Appropriations Committee seat.

Throughout the state, any sense of suspense ended for unnamed schools, bridges and dams: Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D) won a ninth term over John Raese (R), positioning Byrd to extend his record as longest-serving U.S. senator and top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee.