Debbie Halvorson went down.
So did Bill Foster.
Dan Seals also took a dive, and incumbent Melissa Bean could have been ousted from office*.
The GOP congressional wave that swept the nation Tuesday night didn't not pass over Illinois despite ardent pleas from President Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Bill Clinton and other Washington elites.
Chicago's suburbs played directly into the hands of Republicans.
Some were expected.
Republican Adam Kinzinger's victory over Debbie Halvorson comes as no shock. The popular moderate Republican models himself after Mark Kirk or Aaron Schock, and favors a fiscally conservative strategy in government but less-than-stiff approach to moral issues. At 32 years old, the former Air Force Pilot will be the youngest person to hold that particular office.
Other races belong firmly in the upset category.
Politics
Melissa Bean, the 8th district Democrat, is embroiled in a too-close-to-call election with Republican Joe Walsh. He leads her buy just under one percentage point, or about 700 votes in the traditionally Republican district. .
Even some GOP operatives were incredulous over the win because of Walsh's rocky start, during which he violated federal election law, his campaign staff quit in mass out of protest, and the press revealed his Evanston condo was foreclosed upon.
Robert Dold's victory over Democrat Dan Seals, who's run three times for the 10th district seat, is surprising considering Seals polled ahead of Dold for nearly the entire election. His victory also squashes the one celebration the Democrats were planning in Illinois, which was turning a traditionally red congressional seat -- the one that belonged to Mark Kirk -- blue.
But the small victory wasn't to be, as Illinois worked out the way the rest of the nation did, in Republican favor.
Now the disparate Republican voices that captured victory will head to Washington to become part of an establishment they ran against, and they'll start fighting against the man who tried to battle them when they take on Barack Obama.
