Supporters of common sense restrictions on guns, from both political parties, won a number of U.S. Senate seats yesterday.

Senator-Elect Mark Kirk in Illinois is a co-sponsor in the U.S. House of Representatives of legislation to close the gun show loophole. Senator-Elect Dan Coats in Indiana was opposed by the National Rifle Association because of his votes for the Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban in the early 1990s, during his previous service in the Senate. Both of these wins were pickups by Republicans of Democratic seats.

On the Democratic side, gun control supporters — Senators Barbara Boxer in California; Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand in New York; Ron Wyden in Oregon, Barbara Mikulski in Maryland and Daniel Inouye in Hawaii won. Richard Blumenthal in Connecticut, Michael Bennet in Colorado and Chris Coons in Delaware were elected to the Senate as well.

Election victories for Brady-endorsed candidates!

Twenty-seven Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives who were endorsed by the National Rifle Association were defeated yesterday, while only two incumbent Democratic House members who co-sponsored a major gun control bill this session lost their re-election bids.

Of the 49 Democratic incumbents who lost, 29 (59 percent) had an A rating from the NRA and 25 (51 percent) received financial support from the NRA. Of the 176 incumbent Democrats who won reelection, 145 (82 percent) did so without the NRA endorsement.

In contrast, only two of the 101 Democratic House incumbents who co-sponsored legislation to close the gun show loophole lost yesterday. Those losses were offset by Democratic House seat pickups by gun control supporters in Louisiana and Hawaii.

Election victories for Brady-endorsed candidates!

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, endorsed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, came from behind in the polls to defeat State Senator Bill Brady, who was endorsed by the National Rifle Association. The gun issue resonated in local races as well: 14 out of 16 candidates in state legislative races who were endorsed by the Brady PAC — Illinois won their races.

Quinn campaigned aggressively for common sense gun laws, and repeatedly highlighted Sen. Brady's extreme position on guns, including his opposition to restricting assault weapons and his opposition to legislation restricting guns near schools.

The Brady PAC — Illinois targeted Sen. Brady with 165,000 "robo calls" from gun violence victims, including Sarah Brady, to likely women voters. Gov. Quinn's campaign also produced a television ad criticizing Sen. Brady's opposition to banning assault weapons.

Election victories for Illinois Brady-endorsed candidates!