Overall, an awesome, awesome night for Democrats nationwide.

It’s been 12 years in the making now, but the Democrats finally took the House. Gaining 27 (!!!) seats in one night, the Democrats now have a 229 - 196 majority over the Republicans in the house. Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) stands to be the first female Speaker in history.

The Senate is still up for grabs, although all signs point to a Democratic majority there, too. Currently, the Democrats hold 48 seats to the Republican 49. If Virginia swings our way, which seems likely, Democrats will equal the number of Republican senators. Throw in the two Independents - Joe Liberman and Bernie Sanders (an avid Socialist from Vermont) - and the Democrats are in good shape.

Good riddance, Rumsfeld.

Results in Georgia were not what we had hoped. Taylor and Martin fell short in their bid for Governor and Lt. Governor, respectively, and Gail Buckner was unable to secure the Secretary of State’s office.

On the local level, Doug McKillip (D-115) carried every precinct and finished with over 50% of the vote, winning outright and avoiding a runoff with one of the other candidates. McKillip will now be the State Representative for the majority of the Athens-Clarke County area. Congrats to all the Young Democrats and everyone who worked on Doug’s campaign.

Unfortunately, news wasn’t so good elsewhere. State Senator hopeful Jane Kidd (D-46) was unable to win in an overwhelmingly Republican district. That, well, sucks.

I might be a bit of a rookie to the whole political process, but hats off to the Kidd campaign and fellow Young Democrats for what was, in my estimation, a fantastic campaign. These guys and girls were out there literally every day phone banking and canvassing, even into the wee hours of the morning. They contacted more households and knocked on more doors than I thought was humanly possible. To everyone who worked on that campaign: hold your heads high. You did an amazing job.

We’ll discuss all this and more at tonight’s meeting. Doug McKillip will be there to thank everyone for their support. 6:00 in room 350 of the SLC. Be there!