In 2008, the Obama wave swept across the country, bringing Democrats to districts that had been Republican strongholds for decades. Democrats acquired a 75 vote majority in the House of Representatives; they currently hold the majority of Representatives' seats in 33 states, compared to Republicans' 16 states.

This year, the electoral tide is shifting and all signs point to Republicans taking back the House during today's election. The first districts likely to go Republican will be those former stronghold "swing seats," such as Ohio's 6th and 18th Districts and Colorado's 3rd, 4th, and 7th Districts.

Both Republicans and Democrats are keeping a close eye on Colorado's congressional races. As election day nears, the two Senate candidates, Republican Ken Buck and incumbent Democrat Michael Bennet, are polling dead even. The race is one of the closest in the country.

It may seem like a distant memory, but back in 2008, the story of the Democratic presidential primary was the rise of a relative newcomer to Washington taking on the party establishment with grassroots organizing. It was a winning strategy for then-candidate Barack Obama in Colorado, where he earned more than two-thirds of the primary votes and defeated Hillary Clinton. 

In Colorado’s Democratic Senate primary this year, there’s another candidate campaigning as an outsider, but the establishment narrative is flipped. This time, the political newcomer is the incumbent, and the challenger is a mainstay of Colorado politics.

Colorado has long been a solid red state, but like some other former Republican strongholds, it looks to be leaning Obama's way. Almost half of Colorado's registered voters have already voted. The Takeaway checks in with Rocky Mountain News Radio reporter Bente Birkeland.