Twenty House Republicans broke with their party last year and voted against the GOP bill to repeal and replace ObamaCare, a measure that Democrats used to hammer vulnerable Republicans in the campaign this year.
Four of those Republicans still lost on Tuesday, despite a move to blunt one of Democrats’ most potent attacks. But nine Republicans, about half, ended up winning.
{mosads}Another six retired and so were not up for reelection. Several of them were likely to lose their races if they had run.
Some of the Republicans who won used their votes against ObamaCare repeal last year to show their independence from their party.
Rep. David Joyce (R-Ohio), for example, ran an ad in which he said: “When Republican leaders in Congress tried to take away protections for pre-existing conditions, I said ‘no.’ ”
Voting “no” on last year’s bill did not stop Democrats from attacking these lawmakers on health care entirely, though.
Some Democratic ads, like one against Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.), simply cited his votes to repeal ObamaCare in previous years.
Three of the nine Republicans who voted against the GOP ObamaCare repeal bill but won on Tuesday were also conservatives who opposed the bill from the right and did not face competitive reelection races.
Here is the full breakdown of how the 20 Republicans who voted “no” on repeal last year fared:
WON (9)
Andy Biggs (Ariz.)
Walter Jones (N.C.)
Thomas Massie (Ky.)
Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.)
Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.)
David Joyce (Ohio)
John Katko (N.Y.)
Chris Smith (N.J.)
Michael Turner (Ohio)
LOST (4)
Mike Coffman (Colo.)
Barbara Comstock (Va.)
Dan Donovan (N.Y.)
Leonard Lance (N.J.)
RETIRED (6)
Ryan Costello (Pa.)
Charlie Dent (Pa.)
Frank LoBiondo (N.J.)
Patrick Meehan (Pa.)
Dave Reichert (Wash.)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (Fla.)
TOO CLOSE TO CALL (1)
Will Hurd (Texas)