Last night was a good night for incumbents.

Thad Cochran, widely written off as doomed, managed to beat Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel. His victory was partly attributed to cross over support from black voters but he also benefited from higher turnout among his supporters.

Some of McDaniel’s supporters aren’t giving up so easily though. I don’t expect McDaniel to run because he knows it would doom his future in politics and there will be future campaigns.

In New York it appears that long time incumbent Charles Rangel won what will be his last term in Congress by defeating a primary challenger. The vote could shift with absentee votes but I would expect Charlie to spend another term in Washington.

Overall this was a good night for the mainstream GOP. Certainly the results didn’t thrill the Tea Party faction and of course the left isn’t going to like any Republican but overall things turned out well for rational politics.