Yes, he did come closer than any other Republican had in that historically Democrat seat, but still came up short twice. He had the fortune of not having to run against an incumbent the third time, and after being elected to the open seat, the district was redrawn to be Republican. I discussed this with Newt's supporters during the 2012 GOP primary when they were claiming Newt's history of winning elective office as soooo much more impressive than Rick Santorum's. Actually, their record of running for elective office is about even.
Frank Wolf, the wonderful guy who has now served 16 terms in the House, lost in 1976 and 1978 before being swept into office in 1980, beating out incumbent “Pink Joe” Fisher. I was a precinct captain in Arlington, which at that time was part of Virginia’s 10th District, Frank’s district.
I can think of a couple of Democrats who were “third time lucky”, both in the South Bend, Indiana area. John Brademas took three elections to finally win (in the ‘Rat year of 1958) and Joe Donnelly took three elections before he finally knocked off “Count Chocula” Chris Chocola in the ‘Rat year of 2006.