Among the 84 House freshmen who unpacked new offices last week, a handful is intimately familiar with doing the opposite -- packing up and moving out of the Capitol.

Nine members of the new class are former members of Congress who left Capitol Hill either by choice or by force. Redrawn congressional districts helped some of them get back; others had a change of heart after leaving voluntarily.

Of the seven returning Democrats, almost all lost in 2010 when Republicans swept into control of the House.

Though each used the two-year hiatus differently, many say the same thing about returning: The election losses were somewhat beyond the lawmakers' control, and they plan on being the same people they were when they last served in Congress.

Rep. Dina Titus, a Nevada Democrat who lost in 2010, remained engaged after her loss by teaching political science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and serving on the U.S. Civil Rights Commission. She said her close loss was "not a surprise" to her and should be chalked up to a bad year for Democrats.

"My positions, my values, my stance on things are no different now than they were then," Titus said. "I won't change my principles in anyway. I would still vote for the health care bill, the American Recovery Act."

Titus' vote for President Barack Obama's signature first-term legislation became a big part of the 2010 campaign and helped her opponent, Joe Heck, define the freshman congresswoman. Heck, who represents Nevada's 3rd District, is now one of Titus' colleagues.

This story is familiar for Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat who is back after being ousted in 2010. Grayson said he thinks that there was "nothing that we could have done that would make a difference in the result" and that his loss in 2010 was somewhat out of his control.

Grayson might be the best-known member of the class because of his rant on the House floor during the health care debate when he said that the Republicans' plan for health care was for Americans not to get sick and to "die quickly" if they did.

Grayson's outspokenness earned him the ire of conservatives and the affection of Democrats. And the fact that he represented a reliably Republican district doomed his re-election bid.