Congressional canaries

Politics: Spring losses in once-safe districts send a strong warning to the GOP | Jamie Dean

On the morning after Republican Greg Davis lost a special election in Mississippi to fill a vacant congressional seat in a Republican stronghold, House Republicans in Washington, D.C., huddled in privacy for a tense meeting.

Davis' defeat on May 13 marked the third-straight special congressional contest Republicans lost this year in longtime conservative districts: In early March, Democrat Bill Foster defeated Republican Jim Oberweis to take the seat of former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who retired in November after 21 years in Congress.

In early May, Democrat Don Cazayoux defeated Republican Woody Jenkins in Louisiana to take the seat of Richard Baker, a Republican who served in Congress for 20 years. One week later in Mississippi, Davis fell to Democrat Travis Childers in a once reliably Republican district.