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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska won re-election, Edison Research and broadcasters projected on Wednesday, leaving control of the Senate to be determined in January by two runoff elections in Georgia.
Sullivan, 55, defeated Al Gross, an independent who ran as a Democrat in an election that some political analysts had seen as a potential opportunity for Democrats to win a Republican Senate seat.
Earlier on Wednesday, Democrats secured their control over the US House of Representatives, but with a smaller majority.
The race was canceled with Sullivan leading Gross by 20 percentage points, 57.5% to 37.5%.
Sullivan, a former United States Marine, ran on his conservative record in the Senate while calling Gross a candidate in alliance with National Democrats, including Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.
Gross, a 58-year-old orthopedic surgeon, had raised more than twice as much campaign money as Sullivan. But his financial advantage was not enough for victory.
On the campaign trail, Gross emphasized his knowledge of the healthcare system and sought to portray Sullivan as a rubber stamp for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and President Donald Trump, who was also projected as the winner of the Presidential race in Alaska.
The day after Republican Senator Thom Tillis won re-election in North Carolina, Sullivan’s victory confirms that Democratic hopes of winning the majority of seats, and with it the power to support Democratic President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda , will be reduced to two Georgia elections scheduled for January 5.
With Biden’s victory in the White House, Democrats must win three Republican Senate seats to win 50 Senate seats, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris exercising the runoff vote.
Biden surpassed the 270 Electoral College votes needed to defeat Trump.
Democrats won Republican seats in Arizona and Colorado in last week’s election. But they lost a seat in Alabama, reducing their net profit to just one seat.
In Georgia, Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler face challenges from Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively.
(Reporting by David Morgan, Mohammad Zargham, and Susan Heavey; edited by Mike Collett-White)
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