ST. CHARLES | At 10:15 p.m., CNN announced the Democrats had claimed the House of Representatives, ending not only the GOP’s decade-long reign of power, but Dennis Hastert’s tenure as Speaker of the House.

Moments later, Hastert emerged to cheers, celebrating his victory in the 14th district over Democratic challenger John Laesch.

“We are happy with our victory,” Hastert said. “Not many people have the honor to serve a district as great as this for eleven terms.”

The recent criticism he has received in relation to the Mark Foley scandal did not greatly impact Hastert’s standing with the voting public, as he defeated Laesch by a twenty point margin of victory.

Despite Hastert’s success, it was bittersweet for Republicans after the party lost the majority vote in the House to the Democrats, marking the first time in 12 years the GOP has not had control of the House. In his address, Hastert acknowledged his party’s struggles on election night.

“We’ve been watching some of the House races, particularly in the east, and we’ve got it tough out there,” he said.

Hastert had an optimistic look at how the evening would conclude.

“We’ve got some opportunities in the west, and we’ve had some pickups out there,” he said.

Hastert chose not to comment on likely having to surrender his speaker title to Nancy Pelosi, who, if elected by her party, could become the first female speaker in U.S. history.

His constituents are concerned about seeing Pelosi replace Hastert as the Speaker of the House.

“She’s a little too far left,” said Rockford resident Laxmi Tandon.

The large number of supporters who showed up at the Hotel Baker in St. Charles were not pleased with the outcome of the election for the Republicans, and predicted turbulent times ahead.

“You’re going to have a standoff between the White House and Congress,” said Aurora resident Bob Locke. “The key is that the Democrats campaigned against Iraq. I don’t know what they would do about it.”

Philip Lewis, a Republican and just-elected Kane County Board representative, was disappointed to surrender power to the left.

“I’m disappointed that we’re not going to have the strength that we used to,” he said.

In his brief address, Hastert highlighted national security and continued economic success as key points of emphasis.

“There are a lot of great things that we continue to do,” Hastert said. “We need to continue to keep this country safe. We have a great obligation to do that, and a great challenge to do that. We also have a great opportunity to keep our economy rolling. We’ve been able to do that, and we need to continue to do it.”

Justin Weaver is a Campus reporter for the Northern Star.