since 1974, republicans haven t fallen anywhere near that level of defeat, until now. this year they lost 40 seats in the house to the democrats. it was the biggest midterm loss republicans have seen since that extraordinary election in 1974 that happened after nixon had to step down. the republican president had just resigned in disgrace. this was their worst performance since then. and it was the democrats record setting gain that was true in 1974, and it s true right now too. one of the things that democrats have been swimming upscream against since 2010 is that it s actually very difficult for them to win seats in congress even when they win more of the vote. that s because ahead of the 2010 midterms, republicans launched a genius nationwide effort to take over key legislators across the country. they directed national donor funds to seemingly obscure state legislative races that were strategy chosen in order to flip
all know during the summer, during the time that the committee s hearings were televised over the impeachment of the president. of the 33 who ran again, six were considered in tight races. five of those six are republicans. wily main was beaten in iowa s sixth district. charles saman lost in the second district. another republican from new jersey and another staunch nixon partisan was easily defeated. in indiana, david dennis, who also opposed impeachment lost to philip sharp. in indiana, david dennis lost. david dennis seat in indiana was one of 48 seats republicans lost the year that nixon resigned from office. including a bunch of other republicans who, like david dennis, had spent their time in congress wholeheartedly defending nixon right up until the very end. so a really, really big loss for the republican party that year, 1974. biggest midterm loss for republicans in modern political time.
expired. congressman david dennis. he stuck by president nixon until very nearly the end. he was a passionate advocate for nixon, a passionate critic of watergate. he was one of 11 republicans on the judiciary committee who voted against impeaching nixon in july 1974. but then, then the smoking gun tape eurge merged. it was right after that committee vote where david dennis and 10 other republicans voted no on impeachment, and then all of the sudden there is this tape, where it s all laid bare, where nixon can be heard explicitly ordering a halt to the fbi s investigation into watergate. once they heard that tape, once everybody heard that tape, there was just no denying it anymore. david dennis and his fellow republicans flipped. they had to. they agreed to vote to impeach the president. and then days later on august 9th, 1974, nixon resigned from
wrong about what was basically the only thing he had become known for as a congressman. dennis is a conservative republican. he was one of richard nixon s chief defenders until that last condemning tape. then he switched to vote for impeachment. dennis says his voters support what he did and the way he did it. he too feels he was helped politically by television coverage of the impeachment investigation. on balance, i think it s been very helpful. for one thing, i have a wide recognition factor thanks to you people on the television. reporter: dennis doesn t seem worried. besides, he feels the televised impeachment proceedings made him better known to voters than his six years of service in congress. so what if i m famous for being wrong. at least i m famous. that s got to be good, right? turns out being a famous defender of richard nixon was not a plus in the 1974 midterm elections, which, again, did take place right after nixon had to resign. 33 of the 38 members on the jud
april 1st through september 30th, $4.568 million. what we have got in the last hour is that the mueller investigation has responded to michael flynn s attorneys in making a sentencing recommendation. they have said that flynn did lie to the fbi but they end this by saying the seriousness of the defendant s offense cannot be called into question, and the court should reject his attempt to minimize it while the circumstances of the interviews do not present mitigating circumstances, assuming the defendant continues to accept responsibility for his actions. his cooperation and military service continue to justify a sentence at the low end of the guideline range. i want to thank my colleagues and friends for supporting our coverage of this, this hour. tom winter, glen kershner and former federal prosecutor elizabeth holtzman, attorney and former u.s. congresswoman who voted to impeach richard nixon, joyce vance. daniel goldman, msnbc s legal