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(Correction: Richard Blumnethal was not the only Democrat elected in the 2010 midterms. Sens. Chris Coons (Dela.) and Joe Manchin (W.Va.) were also elected that year, but were sworn in immediately to fill seats left by Joe Biden and the late Robert Byrd.)

When Senator-elect Rep. Gary Peters crosses Capitol Hill to attend his Senate freshman orientation this week, he will be the lone Democrat in a room of celebratory Republicans.

Four years ago Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) was in a similar, yet not quite as intimidating, situation.

Blumenthal was very aware that he was one of the only Democratic Senate hopefuls to emerge victorious in a midterm election that was dreadful for his party, he told the Loop. The excitement over your own success may be a bit tempered by the partys dramatic losses, but Blumenthal said that in politics there is always hope for the next round when we can replenish our ranks.

He also had a leg up on his Republican peers that Peters will not: He was joining the majority party. Knowing that gave me protective armor, Blumenthal said.

But he doesnt want Peters to worry about being the odd man out. Blumenthal described his fellow GOP classmates as extraordinarily gracious as they went through the process of learning how the Senate operates together.

Everybody has the same kind of questions, like How do we know if were going to have Friday off to go home?, Blumenthal said, adding that they quickly learned they dont. Theres lots of common questions and mysteries to the first few days and the first few years as Ive learned, a lot of written and unwritten rules that have to be mastered regardless of party.

Coming from the House, Peters (D-Mich.) is also used to working alongside Republicans. Ive been working in the Republican-controlled House for the past few years, so I know how to build relationships with members of the other party and find bipartisan common ground, he said in an e-mail.

But being the lone member of their party in the freshman class is fairly unique. In 2006, a banner years for Democrats, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) was the only new Republican senator. But in most years theres usually at least a few newbies from each party.

But President Obama can take heart that at least one Democrat made it to the Senate in each of his terms midterm elections. In the 1994 midterms in President Clintons first term, every new senator elected was a Republican.

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In the Loop: Being the only Democrat at freshman orientation

When Gary Peters, congressman and senator-elect from Michigan, crosses Capitol Hill to attend his Senate freshman orientation this week, he will be the lone Democrat in a room of triumphant Republicans.

Four years ago, Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut was in a similar, though not quite as intimidating, situation.

Blumenthal was well aware that he was one of the few Democratic Senate hopefuls to emerge victorious in midterm elections that were dreadful for his party, he told the Loop. The excitement over his own success may be a bit tempered by his partys dramatic losses, but Blumenthal said that in politics theres always hope for the next round, when we can replenish our ranks.

He also had a leg up on his Republican peers that Peters will not: He was joining the majority party. Knowing that gave me protective armor, Blumenthal said.

But he doesnt want Peters to worry about being the odd man out. Blumenthal described his GOP classmates as extraordinarily gracious as they learned together how the Senate operates.

Everybody has the same kind of questions, like How do we know if were going to have Friday off to go home? Blumenthal said, adding that he and his future colleagues quickly learned that they dont. Theres lots of common questions and mysteries to the first few days and the first few years as Ive learned, a lot of written and unwritten rules that have to be mastered regardless of party.

Coming from the House, Peters is used to legislating (or not?) alongside Republicans.

Ive been working in the Republican-controlled House for the past few years, so I know how to build relationships with members of the other party and find bipartisan common ground, he said in an e-mail.

Being the lone member of your party in a freshman class is nearly unique. In 2006, a banner year for Democrats, Bob Corker of Tennessee was the only new Republican senator. In most years, there are at least a few newbies from each party.

President Obama can take heart that at least one Democrat made it to the Senate in each of his midterm tests. In the 1994 midterms, with Bill Clinton in the White House, every new senator elected was a Republican.

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In the Loop: Gary Peters is a Democrat who stands alone

In 1956, 19 Democrat senators and 82 Democrat House members signed a Southern Manifesto pledging to resist the integration of Southern public schools as ordered by the Supreme Court. Only two GOP House members, both from Virginia, signed. The American South was solidly Democrat and solidly segregationist.

The break in the dam came in a special election in Texas in 1961 to fill the Senate seat of Lyndon Johnson, newly elected vice president. John Tower became the first Republican since Reconstruction to win a Southern Senate seat by popular election.

After a raucous South Carolina rally in 1966, Richard Nixon told this writer the future of the GOP was in the South. That was a year after passage of the Voting Rights Act and LBJ's forecast that Democrats could lose Dixie for a generation. History has proven Nixon right.

Southern white Democrats, descendants of the men who voted for that Southern Manifesto, are a dying breed. South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas will not send a single white Democrat to Congress if Mary Landrieu loses her runoff. The only Democrats in the House from Deep South states will be blacks. Tennessee, North Carolina and West Virginia are trending the same way.

Republican dominance in the New South is partly explained by the conservatism of the region. But the rise of the black Democrat and extinction of the white Democrat is also traceable to the Voting Rights Act.

Required by law and the Justice Department to create districts where blacks would be competitive, Southern legislatures began to draw up districts where the black vote was so concentrated as to ensure the election of a black.

The GOP offer on the table for black Democrats was safe seats in Congress they could hold for decades, to build up seniority. As Republicans took over legislatures, they created secure House seats for black candidates, which inevitably resulted in heavily white districts, tailor-made for conservative Republicans. Moderate and liberal Democrats were squeezed out.

As Hispanics begin to register and vote in greater numbers, Republicans will likely use the same strategy to carve out deeply Hispanic districts for them. Thus the end result of the Voting Rights Act is likely to be more districts represented by blacks, Hispanics and Asians. These will be largely Democrat and come to represent a plurality of Democrats in the House, as white Democrat congressmen shrink in number.

Moreover, by using race-based ads in the Nov. 4 elections, Democrat strategists are pushing us to an America where the GOP is predominantly white and the Democratic Party, especially in Dixie, is dominated by persons of color.

As Jeremy Peters of The New York Times wrote a week before the elections: Democrats in the closest Senate races in the South are turning to racially charged messages invoking Trayvon Martin, the unrest in Ferguson, Mo., and Jim-Crow era segregation.

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The new South: Black & conservative

Democrat Vandals Destroy GOP Campaign Sign
On the evening of October 29, 2014, Democrat sign vandals destroyed a campaign sign for Republican Congressman, Robert Hurt. The illegal act was caught on ta...

By: TheSchillingShow

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Democrat Vandals Destroy GOP Campaign Sign - Video

Early crowd at Democrat Paul Davis #39; election watching party
via YouTube Capture.

By: WIBW News Now

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Early crowd at Democrat Paul Davis' election watching party - Video