South Carolina Veteran Spratt Falls to the GOP's Mick Mulvaney

While the GOP continues to rack up wins against freshman House Democrats, it has also brought down party veterans like Rep. John Spratt of South Carolina, the chairman of the House Budget Committee.

The 14-term Democrat lost his seat Tuesday night to Mick Mulvaney, a first-term state senator.

John McCain easily carried the district abutting the North Carolina border in 2008, and if not for the popular incumbent, the seat would most likely have gone to the GOP years ago. So it came as no surprise the GOP establishment targeted Spratt and ran ads linking him with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. A recent commercial by the National Republican Congressional Committee ended with the tagline, "John Spratt's not our congressman any more." The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee also spent heavily on attack ads against Mulvaney.

Mulvaney is a real estate developer turned politician. He told Politics Daily's Walter Shapiro that the election in South Carolina's 5th District was about Spratt's voting record. "If John had voted against even one of the pillars of the three pillars of the Obama administration, you couldn't beat him." Mulvaney was referring to the stimulus, cap-and-trade energy legislation and health care reform. Mulvaney considered Spratt's vote on the health care reform bill to be the start of his campaign.

The district is 31 percent black. Spratt appealed to African-American constituents, telling them he wanted to return to Washington for another term to help President Obama succeed. The president responded with an ad for Spratt that in the end was unable to save him.