Tuesday was a big night for Republicans in the state of Texas and nationwide. Texas voters re-elected incumbent governor Rick Perry, and the GOP regained control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Perry defeated his Democratic challenger Bill White, a former mayor of Houston to win an unprecedented third full term. Perry already holds the distinction as Texas’ longest serving governor.

Republican U.S. Representative Randy Neugebauer was also re-elected four a fourth term. He represents Texas’ 19th district which includes Abilene and Lubbock in Congress. Susan King, who represents the 71st district in the Texas House of Representatives, was re-elected for a third term.

Nationwide, Republicans showed big gains, taking control of the House and narrowing the Democratic lead in the Senate. Dason Williams Taylor County Democratic Party Chairman said the big night for Republicans was not unexpected.

“It was going to be a hard night for Democrats nationally,” Williams said. “We knew that coming in.”

Williams said the Republicans did a good job of hammering the Democrats on some key issues and focusing on Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi He said this year’s midterm election will serve as a wake up call for Democrats.

ACU College Democrats president Rebecca Dial, sophomore political science major from Lexington, S.C., said she knew the GOP would retake the House, but she expected a close gubernatorial race between Perry and White.

“There is a lot of anti-Perry sentiment and Bill White is the best candidate we’ve had in a while,” Dial said.

Dial and other members of the College Democrats gathered at the Taylor County Democratic Party headquarters to watch election results. ACU’s Young Republicans watched election results from a classroom in the Hardin Administration Building.

ACU YR president Aaron Escobedo, senior history major from Lamesa, said the results of this year’s midterm elections should serve as a referendum on President Obama and his party.

“This is what we were expecting the whole time,” Escobedo said. “People are tired of it. They’ve realized after two years they want real change.”

Escobedo said the GOP saw major gains this year because the party returned to its core values, including fiscal conservatism.

Stewart McGregor, freshman Christian ministry and political science major from Arlington, is a member of YR and a supporter of the Tea Party Movement. He watched the election results with YR and was wearing a tea bag around his neck. McGregor said he believed the tea party served the GOP well as a grassroots movement in the 2010 election.

“I believe it played a strong role for fiscal conservatism,” McGregor said. “It helped wake up America, it’s going to be a force in the next election.”