Republicans have won the Senate, flipping control of the chamber from Democrats for the first time in three years, following a fierce competition for a Senate majority that came down to a handful of seats in the 2024 election.
Republicans have won the Senate, flipping control of the chamber from Democrats for the first time in three years, following a fierce competition for a Senate majority that came down to a handful of seats in the 2024 election.
Republicans have recaptured the US Senate, achieving what was billed in advance as the most attainable goal for the party in this year’s elections.
The GOP regained control after it became clear that the Democrats had lost their one-seat majority in Congress’s 100-member upper chamber.
Republicans gained two Senate seats, as Trump-backed businessperson Bernie Moreno defeated three-term Democratic senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio, and Trump loyalist Jim Justice won the seat once held by Joe Manchin in West Virginia.
Republican incumbents also fought off Democratic challengers in Texas, where Ted Cruz defeated Colin Allred, and in Florida, where Rick Scott won out over Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
In Nebraska, union organizer Dan Osborn launched a surprisingly successful independent campaign to oust the Republican incumbent, Deb Fisher. But Fisher ultimately held on to her seat.
Shortly after midnight ET, several competitive Senate races still had not been called, giving Republicans a chance to grow the margin of their majority by a few more seats.
The result puts the Republican party in pole position in the confirmation process for senior officials appointed by the new incoming administration, and for potential new justices to the US supreme court if and when vacancies open up.
At least two veteran conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, are expected to retire in the next few years, while speculation has surrounded the health and intentions of a third, Sonia Sotomayor, one of the court’s three liberal justices.
The transfer of Senate control back to the Republicans will also lend greater piquancy to the race to succeed Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader in the chamber, who had announced that he would retire after the election.
Leading contenders to replace him are John Thune of South Dakota, Texas senator John Cornyn and Rick Scott of Florida, with the winner primed to assume the powerful position of Senate majority leader.
Cornyn launched his bid for the leadership just moments after Republicans won their Senate majority, according to the Associated Press, with a statement touting his experience working with Republican members, and serving as the GOP vote-counter during the first Trump administration.
“As I’ve said, this election is not about us but rather what is best for the conference and the nation,” the Texas Republican said. “I look forward to working with President Trump and our new conservative majority to make America great again by making the Senate work again.”
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The leadership election is due to take place at the end of November by secret ballot.
The Republicans’ win had been widely anticipated. The Democrats faced an unfavourable electoral map, with several incumbents either retiring or up for re-election in Republican stronghold states – meaning loss of Senate control was highly likely even in the event of Kamala Harris being elected president.
The retirement of the West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, a formerly centrist Democrat who had lately become an independent, was the clearest signal that the Republicans were on a winning path. As expected, the seat he vacated was won by the state’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, who triumphed over his Democratic opponent, Glenn Elliott, the mayor of Wheeling.
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It has been 18 years since Connecticut voted to send a Republican to Washington. Republican George Logan will try to end the party’s long losing streak Tuesday in a rematch with U.S. Rep. Jahana Hayes, the three-term Democrat who defeated him two years ago by a margin of less than 1% of the vote.
The race between Hayes and Logan is among the state’s most closely watched contests on an Election Day when voters will also choose state legislators, a U.S. senator and the next U.S. president.
In their first matchup in 2022, Hayes defeated Logan by just 2,004 votes. This time, Hayes is hoping to get an extra boost from sharing the ballot with Vice President Kamala Harris.
“There’s absolutely a lot more enthusiasm since Harris entered the race at the top of the ticket,” said Hayes, the first Black woman to represent Connecticut in Congress. “We have had at all of our headquarters throughout the district, people show up to volunteer, women show up to phone bank or door knock.”
Logan, a mechanical engineer and former state senator who now works as a community relations director for a public water supply company, has promoted himself as an independent-minded Republican who wouldn’t be beholden to the national party.
He has also focused heavily on his personal background. If elected, the Afro-Latino son of Guatemalan immigrants would become the first Hispanic member of Congress from Connecticut.
“I believe Washington is broken and needs to be fixed. I want to be part of the solution,” he told reporters after a debate with Hayes. “I want to work in a bipartisan basis.”
The race is playing out in a district in the northwestern part of the state where President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump by 11 points in 2020.
Logan said he would vote for Trump, but he has walked a careful line on the campaign trail.
He avoided talking about the Republican presidential nominee or aligning himself with Trump’s policies and the MAGA movement. Instead, he spoke repeatedly about being focused on the needs of the district and not the contentious presidential race, pledging to be an “independent voice” who would work with whoever won the White House.
The race has mostly been a reboot of 2022, with Logan even reusing some of his same advertising. He has criticized Hayes for voting “with the failed Biden-Harris administration 99% of the time” and has focused heavily on economic issues. Hayes has accused him of being a risk to abortion rights and siding with “extremist” Republicans in Washington. Logan has said he supports abortion rights.
Connecticut has been challenging territory for Republicans in recent decades. The last Republican to win a House seat representing the state was former U.S. Rep. Chris Shays, who was voted out of office in 2008.
Incumbent Democrats in the state’s other four congressional districts are also running for reelection, including U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney in the eastern part of the state. He is seeking a 10th term in a rematch race against former Republican state Rep. Mike France, who he beat by 18 points two years ago.
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy is also seeking a third term, running in a rematch against Republican Matt Corey, a small business owner who has pitched himself as “the fighter Donald Trump needs by his side.” Murphy defeated Corey by a wide margin in 2018.
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The last Republican senator from Connecticut was Lowell Weicker, who lost in 1988 and later left the party.
All state legislators are also up for reelection this year. Democrats currently hold a two-thirds majority in the state Senate but are just short in the House of Representatives. If they secure a net gain of three House seats, without losing any Senate seats, Democrats will have a supermajority in the General Assembly needed to override a gubernatorial veto.
SEATTLE (AP) — Longtime Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson is hoping to keep the governor’s mansion in Democratic hands, while former U.S. Rep. Dave Reichert is trying to become the state’s first GOP governor in 40 years.
The two are seeking to replace three-term Gov. Jay Inslee, who declined to seek reelection.
Ferguson, 59, has been the state’s attorney general since 2013. He came to national prominence by repeatedly suing the administration of former President Donald Trump, including bringing the lawsuit that blocked Trump’s initial travel ban on citizens of several majority Muslim nations.
Reichert, 74, served two terms as the elected sheriff of King County, which includes Seattle, before spending seven terms in Congress. Reichert highlighted his 33 years at the sheriff’s office, including helping track down the Green River serial killer, Gary Ridgway.
Reichert faced an uphill battle in a state considered a Democratic stronghold. Ferguson received about 45% of the votes in the August primary to qualify for the general election, compared with about 27% for Reichert. Another Republican in that race, military veteran Semi Bird, got about 11% of the primary vote.
Reichert spent much of the campaign fending off Ferguson’s accusations that he wouldn’t protect abortion rights. Ferguson’s team often referenced Reichert’s history of voting for a nationwide ban on abortion starting at 20 weeks of pregnancy as evidence of him being “wildly out of touch with the majority of Washingtonians.”
Abortion has long been legal in Washington until viability, a determination left up to the judgment of a health care provider, and after that in cases where the pregnant individual’s health or life is threatened. Reichert vowed to enforce state law: “I will protect your rights, ladies,” he said during a debate.
Public safety was also a key issue in the campaign, with the state experiencing a rise in violent crime and ranking last in the nation in law enforcement officers per capita for more than 12 years running, according to the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs. Both candidates vowed to hire more police.
Ferguson’s plan includes directing $100 million to help local jurisdictions bring more officers on board, including through hiring bonuses. Reichert argued that elected officials need to show they support law enforcement, including by protecting qualified immunity laws, in order to recruit more officers.
Ferguson prosecuted three Tacoma police officers in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who was restrained face-down on a sidewalk while pleading that he could not breathe. A jury acquitted them of second-degree murder and manslaughter charges last year.
DETROIT (AP) — Michigan voters are deciding between Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in a tight U.S. Senate battleground contest that could sway the balance of federal power.
Slotkin had a clear head start, but as Republicans became more confident about Donald Trump’s presidential prospects in Michigan, the contest drew more attention from funders who believed Rogers had a good chance of becoming the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in the state in 30 years.
The race could determine whether Democrats continue to hold their slim majority in the Senate, where they are defending more seats than Republicans in this election.
Slotkin, a former CIA analyst and third-term representative, launched her Senate campaign shortly after Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow announced her retirement in early 2023. With a largely uncontested primary, Slotkin built a significant fundraising advantage, much of which she has poured into ads during the race’s final month. She’s also gained high-profile support from figures like former President Barack Obama and Stabenow, who have helped her on the campaign trail in the final month.
On the Republican side, Rogers faced multiple challengers for the party’s nomination, including former Reps. Justin Amash and Peter Meijer, the latter of whom withdrew before the Aug. 6 primary. Rogers served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2015 and chaired the House Intelligence Committee.
Rogers would become the first Republican since Spence Abraham in 1994 to win a U.S. Senate race in Michigan.
The presidential race at the top of the ticket could significantly influence the outcome. Rogers repeatedly accused Slotkin of voting “100% with the Biden-Harris agenda” and aligned himself closely with Republican nominee Donald Trump, who endorsed him.
Slotkin used her funding advantage to establish her narrative early, aiming to connect both with her base and disillusioned Republicans.
“For the Republicans who feel like their party has left them over the last few years, you will always have an open door in my office,” Slotkin said during their only debate.
Metro Detroit could be an area of vulnerability for Slotkin, with frustration over the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war affecting down-ballot Democrats. Slotkin, who is Jewish, has supported Israel while criticizing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Many leaders of the state’s large Muslim community voiced frustration that she and other Democrats haven’t advocated more forcefully for Palestinians.