The wave overcomes Oberstar

Eighteen-term House Democrat James Oberstar of Minnesota has lost to Republican Chip Cravaack.

Oberstar, chairman of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, was edged out of office by just more than 4,000 votes after surviving two GOP waves in his 25-year tenure, the first in the Reagan Era and the second in 1994.

Oberstar becomes the third chairman to be ousted from office, joining Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt of South Carolina and Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton of Missouri.

Oberstar rarely, if ever, faced a difficult re-election bid. In 2008, for example, the veteran Democrat won his district with more than 67 percent of the vote, beating his challenger that cycle by approximately 116,000 votes.