Republicans were projected to win control of the U.S. Senate for the first time in four years in Tuesday’s U.S. elections, after the party flipped three seats previously held by Democrats.
It remained too early to determine which party will control the U.S. House of Representatives, where Republicans currently hold a narrow majority.
Both chambers of Congress will ultimately determine the legislative agenda for the country and will certify the winner of the presidential race between Donald Trump and U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris.
Early in the night, Republicans flipped one seat in West Virginia, with the election of former governor Jim Justice, who easily replaced retiring Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.
Later on, Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio was projected to lose his re-election to Republican Bernie Moreno, a wealthy Trump-era newcomer. The Ohio race was the most expensive of the cycle, with an estimated US$400 million spent by both sides.
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The unexpected battleground of Nebraska pushed Republicans over the 51-seat threshold for a majority. Incumbent GOP Sen. Deb Fischer brushed back a surprisingly strong challenge from independent newcomer Dan Osborn.
In Montana, Tim Sheehy flipped the seat held by incumbent Democrat Jon Tester, bringing the Republican total to 52 seats as of Wednesday.
The new Republican majority won’t be led by the party’s longtime Senate leader Mitch McConnell, who announced in February he would step down from the position after this year’s election.
Democratic efforts to oust notable Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida collapsed.
The focus now turns to the Democratic “blue-wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where Democrats are fighting to protect seats in what’s left of their slim hold on the Senate.
Incumbent Democrat Tammy Baldwin ultimately won her tough fight for re-election in Wisconsin against Eric Hovde, while Michigan elected Rep. Elissa Slotkin by roughly 18,000 votes over her Republican challenger Mike Rogers.
Voters elected two Black women to the Senate, Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Democrat Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, in a historic first.
Blunt Rochester won the open seat in her state while Alsobrooks defeated Maryland’s popular former governor, Larry Hogan. Just three Black women have served in the Senate, and never before have two served at the same time.
And in New Jersey, Andy Kim became the first Korean American elected to the Senate, defeating Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw. The seat opened when Bob Menendez resigned this year after his federal conviction on bribery charges.
Popular independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who caucuses with Democrats and has helped lead the party further to the left, easily won re-election in his race.
Elsewhere, House candidate Sarah McBride, a Democratic state lawmaker from Delaware who is close to the Biden family, won her race, becoming the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
Republicans appeared on track to retain its House majority, however, with House Speaker Mike Johnson projecting confidence after handily winning re-election in his Louisiana district.
If Democrats were to take the House and Republicans take the Senate, it would be the first time that the chambers of Congress have both flipped to opposing political parties.
—With files from the Associated Press
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