Voters in New Hampshire's 2nd Congressional District elected their first Democratic Congressman in 12 years.
Democrat Paul Hodes beat Republican incumbent Congressman Charlie Bass 53 percent to 45 percent.
New Hampshire Public Radio's Amy Quinton reports.
Paul Hodes with wife Peggo. (Cheryl Senter, NHPR)
(Crowd chants "Hodes, Hodes, Hodes")
Several hundred supporters greeted Democrat Paul Hodes with cheers and screams as he stepped to the podium to make his victory speech in Concord.
Hodes ran his campaign on one main issue - which he reiterated to supporters.
"The people of New Hampshire are ready to move this country forward to a new tomorrow they are ready for a new direction, they have voted for change."
During his victory speech, Hodes again took the opportunity to criticize President Bush and Republican leadership.
The Concord attorney told supporters that Republicans have treated the constitution like a piece of paper- and vowed that he would fight for civil liberties.
"As your congressman I pledge to stand up, to protect and defend the constitution of the US and to safeguard the civil liberties of this great country."
On the other side of Concord, Congressman Charlie Bass told supporters that he was proud of the work he's done in the last 12 years - he said not one year in office was wasted.
Bass politely wished Hodes well.
"I'm ready to move on, and I wish Paul Hodes all the best and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the transition is smooth and the people have spoken and that's the way the system should be."
Bass ran on a campaign of lower taxes and less government.
He also tried to distance himself from Republicans by calling himself an independent voice for New Hampshire.
Bass didn't express any regrets about the way he ran his campaign, but sees his loss as part of a national change in the political climate.
"I don't look back I look forward and there's always room for criticism but that isn't the point, the point is I worked as hard as I could I tried to get my message out, and it fell a little bit short."
Bass won modest victories in key Republican towns like Salem and Windham.
But Hodes was competitive in almost every town and won by large margins in Democratic strongholds.
For NHPR news, I'm Amy Quinton.
