Georgetown alumni won multiple midterm elections throughout the nation Tuesday, though not without controversy.

Incumbent Illinois Gov. Patrick Quinn (D) (SFS ’71), a former sports editor of THE HOYA, was declared the winner in the gubernatorial race by the Associated Press Thursday evening, defeating Bill Brady, an Illinois state senator. Quinn has served as governor since January 2009, when he took over in his capacity as lieutenant governor following Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s arrest in a corruption scandal.

Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)(CAS ’80), incumbent Republican senator, is still awaiting the results of the write-in candidacy she launched after being upset by primary challenger and candidate Joe Miller, endorsed by Sarah Palin. As of press time, votes were still being counted and all write-in candidates had received a combined 41 percent of the vote, Miller had received 34 percent of the vote and Democrat McAdams had received 24 percent. In Alaska, write-in votes are counted collectively in the first round and are only assigned to specific candidates if the total number of write-in votes lead after the first count or are within a half percentage point of the leader. Analysts say counting all the write-in votes could take weeks. Alaskan election law is based on intent, so votes with minor misspellings of Murkowski’s name should still be counted in her favor.

In South Dakota, Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (LAW ’97) lost a tight race for the state’s at-large seat to Republican Kristi Noem by less than three points.

ost other races have been resolved, and several fresh faces from the Hilltop’s ranks will be joining more veteran Hoya legislators in the upcoming Congress. Georgetown has a long legacy of former Hoyas serving in the Capitol, with 151 faculty and alumni having represented their constituents and the Hilltop in Washington since William Gaston became a congressman from North Carolina in 1813.

This year, Mick Mulvaney (SFS ’89), a Republican, wrested the largely rural 5th district of Virginia from long-time representative John Spratt with a 55 percent to 45 percent win.

Hansen Clarke (LAW ’87), a Democrat, will take over Michigan’s 13th congressional district, consisting of urban Detroit and surrounding suburbs. Clarke will be the first Bangladeshi-American to serve in Congress. He won the primary in August over incumbent Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, the mother of former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

David Cicilline (LAW ’86), a Rhode Island Democrat, won the Bay State’s at-large district from Patrick Kennedy, who opted not to run for re-election. Cicilline is notable for being the first openly gay Georgetown alum who is a member of Congress.

U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) (LAW ’92) defeated Democrat Alex Giannoulias in the race for an open Senate seat, most recently occupied by Roland Burris, who was appointed to the spot after President Obama was elected.

On the larger scale, a clear showing of voter dissatisfaction with incumbent Democratic leaders swept the Republicans into control of the House and gave them major gains in the Senate, but there were few surprises in D.C. metro area elections, with the region trending Democrat.

Vincent Gray, the chairman of the D.C. Council, won a landslide victory in the mayoral race after earning the Democratic nod by defeating incumbent mayor Adrian Fenty back in September’s primary.

Del. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (D-D.C.), a Law Center faculty member, was handily re-elected to an 11th term as D.C.’s non-voting delegate to the House of Representatives.

The only undecided race in the beltway is Virginia’s 11th congressional district, made up of Fairfax and Prince William counties. With fewer than 300 provisional ballots left to sort through, first-term incumbent Democratic representative Gerry Connolly is less than half of a percentage point ahead in the polls over his Republican challenger, Keith Fimian.

Per Virginia election law, Fimian’s campaign may request a recount paid for by the state once the final voting results are certified. It is currently unclear what Fimian will decide to do.

The results in Virginia’s two other neighboring districts, the 8th – containing Arlington – and the 10th – containing Vienna – were no surprises. Both incumbents won by solid majorities in their districts: Jim Moran (D-08) garnered 61 percent to his Republican opponent’s 37 percent, while Frank Wolf (R-10) walked away with an easy victory with 63 percent of the vote as compared to Democratic challenger Jeff Barnett’s 35 percent.

In Maryland, the 8th district, which includes Bethesda and Silver Springs, was easily held by incumbent Democrat and Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chris Van Hollen (LAW ’90), who took 73 percent of the vote to Republican challenger Michael Philips’ 25 percent. “