Only 3 of 45 House Democrats who voted “no” on Obamacare are still there

Voting for Obamacare was supposed to be lethal for congressional Democrats from conservative districts. But five years after it passed the House, only three Democrats who voted against its final version still remain.

One of Hillary Clinton’s emails released by the State Department Monday contained a list of the 39 Democrats who voted “no” when the Affordable Care Act went through the House in November 2009. The message is a testament to the degree to which Clinton was paying attention to the outcome of the vote. She advised Obama and his aides behind the scenes and felt very much invested in the outcome, according to both administration officials who worked for her and some who did not. But the names on the list show that a “no” vote on Obamacare was hardly enough to save conservative House Democrats from defeats.

Of the 39, only Minnesota Rep. Collin Peterson has been reelected in each of the ensuing congressional elections. Out of the slightly larger universe of 45 House Democrats who voted against either that version of the bill, the version that became law in March 2010, or both, only two others remain in the House: Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts and Dan Lipinski of Illinois.

Obviously there are a lot of factors that contribute to whether a member of Congress makes it through three elections, including whether he or she retires or runs into scandal. And plenty of Obamacare supporters lost their seats after it became law. But Democrats who opposed Obamacare in hopes of keeping their seats often wound up disappointed.

Here’s the list of House Democrats who voted against it both times:

Here are the House members who voted against it on the first trip through the House but not in its final form:

And this is the set who voted against the final bill but not the earlier version: