Republicans swept the general elections Tuesday night, keeping control of the House and gaining a majority in the Senate for the first time in eight years, giving the Republican party total control of Congress.

Republican candidate David Perdue won the open Senate seat in Georgia and incumbent Gov. Nathan Deal was re-elected, both beating their Democratic counterparts by margins of eight percent.

In Georgia’s 12th congressional district race, Republican Rick Allen defeated Democratic incumbent John Barrow, who has served as the district’s congressman since 2005. Unofficial vote counts for the entire district show Allen beating Barrow with nearly 55 percent of the vote. In Bulloch County, Allen won by over 2,000 votes.

Many were surprised by the wide margin of Allen’s win.

“I thought the race between Allen and Barrow would have been closer, but other than that, I’m not really surprised,” Joseph Byrd, vice-chairman of the College Republicans, said. “Barrow’s usually able to garner a decent amount of Republican support.”

Amber Bailey, president of the Young Democrats, was also surprised that Allen won by such a wide margin.

“Having seen what Congressman Barrow has done for the district, I was kind of awestruck that he didn’t get it,” Bailey said.

Bailey attributes the loss to misinformation regarding Barrow’s voting record, caused mainly by political attack ads. She also said the loss of Columbia and Richmond County, where Allen is from, was a strong blow to Barrow’s campaign.

“The media kind of won this election for the GOP,” Bailey said.

Byrd, however, attributes Allen’s win to Georgians wanting a change.

“I think people are just sick of an incumbency,” Byrd said. “And they’re ready to get new people in there with new and fresh ideas.”