Republicans have successfully retaken control of the Senate after flipping seats in several key states on Tuesday, including Ohio and West Virginia.
Heading into Election Day, the GOP was widely favored to wrest back control of the upper chamber from Democrats, who currently have a 51-49 seat majority. It was Democrats’ chamber to lose, with the party left defending 23 of the 34 seats up for grabs this cycle.Car sales
Early Wednesday morning, the GOP had clinched the Senate with races still outstanding in several states, including Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
In West Virginia, Republicans had a clear upper hand in filling the seat left vacant by retiring Democratic Senator Joe Manchin. West Virginia governor Jim Justice handily won the seat over Democratic challenger Glenn Elliot in the ruby-red state, delivering Republicans’ first flip of the night.
Republican car salesman Bernie Moreno bested three-term Democratic senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio in a race that was seen as one of Republicans’ best shots at picking up a seat. The contest was the most expensive Senate race in U.S. history, with more than $500 million spent on ads.
Brown had been unusually lucky in his previous election cycles: He first ran for Senate in 2006, a banner year for Democrats over voter frustrations with President George W. Bush’s second term and the war on terror. Six years later, Brown ran alongside Democratic president Barack Obama, who narrowly carried the state. Then came the blue wave in 2018, a midterm cycle when Democrats across the country romped to victory in backlash against President Donald Trump’s first term.
This time around, Republicans worked to paint Brown as a “down-the-line Democrat” and “Biden’s best friend.”
Meanwhile, Florida Senator Rick Scott won reelection against Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, despite Democrats’ hopes of an upset. The win for Scott was the first relatively easy victory in his nearly 15-year political career. Scott, whose race was rated “likely Republican” by the Cook Political Report, was first elected to the Senate in 2018, winning 50.1 percent of the vote to Democrat Bill Nelson’s 49.9 percent.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz similarly hung on to his seat, despite Democrats’ hopes that Representative Colin Allred could turn the Lone Star State blue. The former NFL linebacker hoped to tie Cruz to the state’s pro-life abortion laws to boost himself to victory, but Democrats came up empty in the Republican stronghold, in a repeat of Cruz’s victory against Democratic darling Beto O’Rourke in 2018.
Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer also won her own race for reelection against independent Dan Osborn.
Democrats did hang on in Maryland, however, where Angela Alsobrooks defeated former Maryland governor Larry Hogan in the race for U.S. Senate in the Old Line State.
The race for the open seat, which is currently held by retiring Democratic Senator Ben Cardin, had been rated “likely Democrat” by the Cook Political Report. But Republicans had hoped running the popular former governor would give them a shot in the blue state as Republicans look to flip control of the Senate.
