Open Seats
In the election, there were 32 open seats: 28 incumbents not seeking re-election and four vacancies. Of the 28 incumbents, 18 were Republicans, 9 Democrats, and 1 an independent.
The four vacancies were New Jersey's 13th congressional district, to be filled at the same time as the general election with the winner taking office in November immediately after the votes were certified; Texas's 22nd congressional district, with a separate special election on the same day; and Ohio's 18th congressional district and Florida's 16th congressional district, which did not have special elections to fill the vacancies before January 2007. New Jersey's 13th congressional district had been held by Democrat Bob Menendez, Texas's 22nd congressional district had been held by Republican Tom DeLay, Ohio's 18th congressional district had been held by Republican Robert Ney, and Florida's 16th congressional district had been held by Republican Mark Foley.
In addition to the open seats, two incumbents, (Democrat Cynthia McKinney in Georgia's 4th congressional district and Republican Joe Schwarz in Michigan's 7th congressional district), were defeated in their party's respective primaries, adding two seats to the number of races where the incumbent was not up for re-election in November.
Read more about this topic: Tim Dunn
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