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Updated 1 hour ago
THE DEMOCRATS ‘CHANCES OF RETURNING CONTROL OF THE UNITED STATES SENATE have been shortened after previous counts suggesting that Republicans were on track to regain the upper house of the United States Congress.
Republicans are struggling to preserve their 53-47 majority in the Senate, and polls show several races leaning toward Democrats.
Election forecaster FiveThirtyEight.com has given Democrats a three in four chance of winning control of the Senate, despite early Republicans victories.
Controlling the Senate is vital as the ruling party determines which bills make it to the floor and which of the president’s nominees receive confirmation votes.
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s party would need to win four seats to take the chamber, or three seats if Biden wins the White House, as a US vice president breaks a tie in the Senate in the event of a 50-50 vote.
At the time of writing this report, Washington Post he called the vote a 45-45 tie, with a turnaround by Democrats in Colorado then canceled by Republicans in Alabama.
If Democrats can win two seats, control of the House could be at stake until a second round is held in the other special elections for the Georgia Senate on January 5.
Democrats were the first to draw blood when former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, a 68-year-old businessman and geologist, comfortably defeated Senator Cory Gardner for a stint to take a seat.
However, Republicans received a defensive boost when retired football coach Tommy Tuberville comfortably defeated Senator Doug Jones in a race that was expected to result in a Republican promotion.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, who came under intense pressure after overseeing the controversial confirmation process for a Supreme Court Justice weeks before the presidential vote, fought a fierce defiance from African-American Jaime Harrison in the conservative stronghold of South Carolina.
“We didn’t get the result at the polls that we wanted, but we showed courage and determination,” said Harrison, who raised record amounts of campaign funds.
Republicans initially did well elsewhere as well, including Kentucky, where Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell easily prevailed, and the states of Texas and Montana.
‘Save the Senate’
And Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst, a close Trump ally who Democrats targeted intensely, also defeated her rival, multiple US networks projected.
Another hotly contested seat was tilting the way for Republicans in North Carolina, where the networks have yet to call the race but where Senator Thom Tillis claimed a crucial victory, with about 94 percent of the vote counted.
“What we achieved tonight was an amazing victory, and we did it against all odds, right?” Tillis told boisterous supporters, adding that he was doing his part “to save the Senate.”
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Democrats would need to win four seats to take the chamber, or three seats if Biden wins the White House race, as a vice president breaks a tie in the Senate in the event of a 50-50 vote.
But embattled Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins was seven percentage points ahead with two-thirds of the precincts reporting, and in Georgia incumbent David Perdue was Top Democrat Jon Ossoff with 90 percent of the precincts reporting.
Democrats also kept the House of Representatives, and President Nancy Pelosi, Trump’s main nemesis in Washington, will likely preside over the proceedings for two more years, but it was unclear whether Democrats could increase their majority.
Popular New York progressive Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez comfortably secured a second term, as did the other three members of “The Squad,” a liberal quartet that has occasionally faced intense criticism from Trump and his allies.
“I am very, very proud of the fact that relatively early tonight we can say that we have held the House,” Pelosi said.
© AFP 2020
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