Eight days after election night, Democrats are still holding out hope they can flip several seats from the House, Senate and gubernatorial races with margins of tenths of a percentage point between the winners and the losers.

Why it matters: Contrary to what President Trump said would be a measly House majority for the Democrats, they have 32 gained seats in the House, nine more than needed. And Republicans didn't pick up as many Senate seats as leaders had hoped.

The suburban shift toward the Democrats helps explain why they're about to take control of the House. The graphic below shows the shift — and it shows that even the deep-red rural districts elected Republicans with smaller margins than in 2016.

Why it matters: Races tend to be much closer in the suburbs, and that's where Democrats picked up the most seats. With few exceptions, Democrats in conventionally blue districts won by larger margins than Clinton in 2016 and Republicans won by slimmer margins than Trump in 2016.

The voting patterns in Tuesday's House midterm elections shifted only slightly to the left of the 2016 election. But as this graphic shows, Democrats picked up 28 seats in districts that President Trump won in 2016 — and that's a big part of the reason they'll be in charge of the House next year.

How to read this chart: Democrats in the upper left won in districts that Trump carried in 2016; Republicans in the bottom right won in districts carried by Hillary Clinton. For races above the diagonal line, Democrats won by larger margins and Republicans won by smaller margins compared to the 2016 presidential vote. Candidates without challengers and those who won by margins greater than 50 points are excluded.