It was a good night to be a Democratic U.S. representative in Pennsylvania.
Riding the coattails of Barack Obama's historic presidential win, Pennsylvania's congressional Democrats gained one seat in the western part of the state to hold a 12-7 majority.
Nationally, all 435 House seats were up for election.
In the five-county region, incumbents had little trouble.
In the Seventh Congressional District, Democratic Rep. Joseph Sestak, of Edgmont Township in Delaware County, defeated Republican newcomer W. Craig Williams, 44, a former federal prosecutor and a Marine, by a ratio of 3-2.
"It was a real celebration," said Sestak, 56, a former vice admiral who served 31 years in the Navy. He said national results showed no one received a mandate.
"We have been given opportunity to do things together in a bipartisan way," Sestak said.
In Bucks County, Democratic incumbent Patrick Murphy, 34, defeated Republican challenger Tom Manion, 54, by a ratio of nearly 3-2 to hold onto his seat in the Eighth District.
Manion, a retired Marine colonel whose son was killed in the war, opposed Murphy's position on scheduled withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
"Now is the time to bring the troops from Iraq, create green energy jobs, work together with Republicans and independents, and time to move our county in a new direction," said Murphy.
Three-term Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach barely bested Bob Roggio in the Sixth District, which spans parts of Berks, Chester, Montgomery and Lehigh Counties. Roggio, 61, was outspent by Gerlach, who raised more than $2.2 million in a district where Democrats make up 45 percent of the voters and Republicans 40 percent.
Two Republican incumbents - Charles Dent, 48, in the 15th District, which includes parts of Montgomery County, and Joseph Pitts in the 16th District, which includes parts of Chester County - hung onto their seats, both winning by about 3-2 ratios.
Philadelphia's three members of the U.S. House of Representatives, all Democrats, skated to victory with little opposition.
Rep. Robert A. Brady, chairman of the city's Democratic City Committee, easily won his sixth term in the House, defeating Republican Mike Muhammad in the First District, which covers central Philadelphia and part of southeastern Delaware County.
Rep. Chaka Fattah sailed into his eighth term in the Second District, which includes parts of West, North and South Philadelphia, and Cheltenham Township in Montgomery County. He defeated Republican Adam Lang, a computer engineer and a student at Drexel University.
Rep. Allyson Schwartz won a third term in the 13th District in Northeast Philadelphia and eastern Montgomery County by besting Republican Marina Kats, a lawyer and businesswoman, by almost 2-1.
In a closely watched race, Democratic Rep. John Murtha, a retired Marine and Iraq war critic, defeated conservative Republican William Russell, a 28-year military veteran and survivor of the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon.
Murtha, a 17-term incumbent from Western Pennsylvania, had said in a recent interview that many of his constituents might not vote for Obama because the region is racist. He apologized but later said the area had been "really redneck" in the past.
In one of the tightest races in the state, the 11th District, Democratic Rep. Paul Kanjorski, 71, won his 13th term. He defeated Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who captured national attention when he banned local employers from hiring illegal immigrants.
"If they hold on, both of those individuals should probably send a nice thank-you note to Barack Obama," said Christopher P. Borick, director of the Institute of Public Policy at Muhlenberg College.
In the western part of the state, Republican incumbent Philip English lost his seat to Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper in a close race. English was seeking his eighth term.