(CNN) The #NeverAgain movement, started by students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School after the February shooting in Parkland, Florida that killed 17 people, set a clear demand on elected officials: pass more restrictive gun laws, or we'll vote you out.

The results of the midterm elections suggest that the movement made headway in suburban districts across the country, but failed in more rural, conservative states. The next Congress may then pass bills regarding assault weapons and background checks in the new Democratic House only to see them stall in the even more Republican Senate. For gun control advocates, that's progress, but not enough.

While mass gun shootings have become a regular occurrence in America —Thousand Oaks, California this week, a Pittsburgh synagogue last month, Maryland's Capital Gazette newsroom this summer, Santa Fe High School this spring, Parkland this winter, Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs, Texas last year — the response in Washington is expected to be as divided as ever.

But Democrats who are taking the House say they will push forward to pass gun control bills early in the new Congress.

"Especially today, we're reminded of the urgency of this," Rep. Ted Deutch, Democrat of Florida, told CNN. "Last night at Thousand Oaks, one of the safest cities in America, just like Parkland, just like Newtown, we saw another mass shooting ... and Congress needs to take action."

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