Republicans will take control of the Senate in the next Congress after flipping a minimum of two seats needed to strip Democrats of the majority on Tuesday.
Democrats currently control the Senate with a 51-49 split. Republicans easily flipped the open West Virginia Senate seat Tuesday and secured a victory in Ohio over the Democratic incumbent.
Control of the House was not settled late Tuesday with many race calls outstanding, but two Republican incumbents lost in New York. Incumbents of both parties were trailing in other races that had yet to be called early Wednesday morning.
The GOP easily picked up the Senate seat in West Virginia that was open due to Democrat-turned-independent Sen. Joe Manchin III retiring. West Virginia Republican Gov. Jim Justice did not face a serious challenge and easily won the Senate seat over Democrat Glenn Elliott. The Associated Press called the race for him as soon as polls closed in the Mountain State at 7:30 p.m.
In Ohio, Republican candidate Bernie Moreno beat Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown by nearly four percentage points. Mr. Moreno, a car dealership owner, will be the first Colombian-born senator.
Florida GOP Sen. Rick Scott comfortably sailed to reelection, defeating former Rep. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by double digits.
Democrats’ last long-shot hope of picking up another seat came crashing down in Texas, when Republican Sen. Ted Cruz won a third term against Democratic Rep. Colin Allred.
Mr. Cruz was leading by nearly 10 points with 94% of precincts reporting, a margin that shows Texas moving farther away from Democrats, not closer as they had hoped. Despite being a majority-minority state, which has fueled Democratic hopes of turning it in their favor for a decade, the party has not won a statewide race there since 1994.
Nebraska GOP Sen. Deb Fischer fended off independent challenger Dan Osborn, who had inched close to her in the polls but was 7 points behind with 92% of the results in.
Republicans saw the Democratic-held Senate seats in the red states of Montana and Ohio as their best pickup opportunities, especially with former President Donald Trump on the ballot to help drive GOP turnout.
Montana Sen. Jon Tester lost to his Republican opponent Tim Sheehy, a retired Navy SEAL and aerospace millionaire, Wednesday morning.
Republicans also have Senate pickup opportunities in the blue-wall states in which they could further expand their nascent majority.
In Pennsylvania, three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey was facing a strong challenge from Republican David McCormick and trailing early Wednesday.
In Michigan, Democratic Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers were vying for an open seat created by the retirement of Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Mr. Rogers was ahead in the early returns.
In Wisconsin, two-term incumbent Sen. Tammy Baldwin was trailing Republican Eric Hovde.
Arizona and Nevada Senate races are also competitive, but political forecasters consider them more of a reach for Republicans.
Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego was leading in Arizona over Republican Kari Lake, as expected, early Wednesday. A Gallego victory would only count as a “hold” for Democrats since the winner will succeed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent who caucused with them.
The Nevada race was close, with Republican Sam Brown holding a narrow lead over Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen, in what would be another pickup for the GOP.
President-elect Donald Trump used his victory speech Wednesday morning to declare preemptively GOP victories in many of those Senate races, calling the number of seats Republicans are poised to flip “incredible.”
The one bright spot on the Senate map for Democrats was Maryland. Republicans had hoped to put the reliably blue state into play with former Gov. Larry Hogan as its candidate, but he did not get close to Democratic winner Angela Alsobrooks, the Prince George’s County executive.
Ms. Alsobrooks, who is replacing retiring Democratic Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, was leading by 11 points when media outlets called the race.
In the battle for the House majority, conventional wisdom in Washington had pointed to Democrats flipping control of the lower chamber by a narrow margin. But House Republicans have remained confident they will not only hold onto their razor-thin majority, but will expand on it.
Mr. Trump also used his victory speech to say he expects Republicans to hold onto the House.
Democrats only need a net gain of four seats to win the House majority, and there were roughly two dozen races across the country in serious contention.
Most of the major races that will decide which party controls the House are in New York and California, where vulnerable Republican incumbents are trying to ward off well-funded Democratic challengers. Turnout for Vice President Kamala Harris in the presidential race could aid Democrats, given that most of the competitive House districts are ones that President Biden carried in 2020.
Democrats had early success in New York, flipping two seats and leading in a third.
The first victory came in New York’s 22nd District, where Democrat state Sen. John Mannion, beat Republican Rep. Brandon Williams. Then came Democrat Josh Riley’s victory over Rep. Marcus Molinaro in the state’s 19th District.
Rep. Anthony D’Esposito, another first-term New York GOP lawmaker, was trailing Democrat Laura Gillen in New York’s 4th District early Wednesday.
After pickups in California in 2022 that helped secure the GOP’s majority, Republicans are now on defense in the Golden State. The state is home to seven seats held by Republican incumbents considered in play — a few of them toss-ups — that Democrats hope to sweep up in the blue state.
Polls closed in California at 11 p.m. EST and mail-in ballots can be counted much later if they were postmarked by Election Day, so definitive results from the crucial races were unavailable early Wednesday.
Two races that Democrats are salivating over are in California’s 13th Congressional District, where Republican Rep. John Duarte is in a tight rematch against Democrat Adam Gray after narrowly defeating him by under 600 votes in 2022, and the state’s 27th district, where Republican Rep. Mike Garcia is in a recently redrawn district that is now home to more Democratic voters than Republicans.
• Lindsey McPherson can be reached at lmcpherson@washingtontimes.com.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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