WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democrats solidified their control of the northeast and made gains in the South on Tuesday by defeating Republicans from Connecticut to Arizona as they pushed for historic gains in their majority.

“It’s the night we have been waiting for,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

Ousting 22-year veteran Rep. Chris Shays in Connecticut gave Democrats every House seat from New England. And their victory in an open seat on New York’s Staten Island gave them control of all of New York City’s delegation in Washington for the first time in 35 years.

Democrats ousted four Republican incumbents and captured five open GOP seats. Republicans knocked off two Democratic incumbents.

With nearly 300 of the 435 House races decided, Democrats held leads for more than a dozen other Republican-held seats. Republicans threatened to oust fewer than a handful of Democrats.

Democrats were headed for the first time in more than 75 years that their party rode to big House gains in back-to-back elections.

“This will be a wave upon a wave,” Pelosi said.

In the South, high school civics teacher Larry Kissell won election in North Carolina, defeating Republican Rep. Robin Hayes.

In Florida, GOP Rep. Tom Feeney — under fire for ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff — was the first incumbent to fall, losing to former state Rep. Suzanne Kosmas. To the east, Rep. Ric Keller, R-Fla., lost to Democratic attorney Alan Grayson, in an increasingly Hispanic district in Orlando.

Democrats capitalized on the uncommonly large number of Republican departures, winning seats long in GOP hands. Former congressional staffer Dan Maffei won election to succeed retiring GOP Rep. Jim Walsh, becoming first Democrat in nearly 30 years to represent the district around Syracuse, N.Y.

In Illinois, Democrat Debbie Halvorson, the speaker of the state Senate, won election to a seat held by retiring GOP Rep. Jerry Weller in the swing exurbs and rural areas south of Chicago.

The news wasn’t all good for Democrats. Republican attorney Tom Rooney defeated first-term Democratic Rep. Tim Mahoney of Florida, who had admitted to two extramarital affairs just weeks before Election Day.

And Republican Bill Cassidy dealt Rep. Don Cazayoux, D-La., elected in a special election six months ago, a bruising defeat.

But other freshman Democrats once considered vulnerable cruised to easy re-election.

First-term Democratic Reps. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, Indiana’s Joe Donnelly and Brad Ellsworth, and New Hampshire’s Rep. Carol Shea-Porter won easy re-election. They were part of a crop of freshman Democrats in conservative-leaning districts who began compiling campaign war chests and moderate voting records almost from the moment they were elected two years ago, leaving only a few of them endangered on Tuesday.