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WASHINGTON: Republican Senator Cory Gardner was defeated Tuesday (November 3) in Colorado by former Gov. John Hickenlooper, giving Democrats their first victory in an election battle trying to gain control of the United States Senate.
However, that victory was quickly offset by the loss of Democratic Senator Doug Jones in Alabama, while veteran Republican senators Lindsey Graham and John Cornyn fought back against Democratic challenges in South Carolina and Texas.
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Control of the Senate may not be clear for some time.
The final results of at least five of the contests may not be available for days and, in some cases, months.
Voters are also deciding whether to end the political career of Maine’s moderate Susan Collins, among other conflicting Republican senators.
In all, 12 Republican seats and two Democratic seats have been up for grabs, according to a Reuters analysis of three nonpartisan US election forecasters: the University of Virginia Center for Politics, the Cook Political Report and Internal Elections.
Gardner, a first-term Republican long considered the most vulnerable Senate incumbent in his party, lost to Hickenlooper in a previously Republican state where demographic shifts have increasingly favored Democrats in recent years, according to projections. from the television networks and Edison Research.
Jones, the most vulnerable Democrat, lost as expected to Tommy Tuberville in the Republican stronghold of Alabama.
To win a majority in the Senate, Democrats must win just three Republican seats if Joe Biden is elected president and Senator Kamala Harris casts the runoff vote as vice president.
Republicans now have a majority of 53 to 47 seats.
Graham, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that was raised massively by Democrat Jaime Harrison, came to victory after presiding over the Senate confirmation of United States Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.
Cornyn was declared the winner against challenger MJ Hegar in a state that seemed to be drifting towards the Democrats. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell’s Majority Leader won reelection in Kentucky, as expected.
In all, 35 of the 100 Senate seats were available for election.
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“There are dogfights all over the country,” McConnell, the top Republican in Congress, said at a campaign stop earlier in the week. He described the possibility of Republicans holding onto the Senate majority as a “50-50 proposal.”
Those odds seem optimistic, according to the three forecasters, who said Democrats could emerge with their first Senate majority in a decade. They were projected by networks to maintain control of the 435-seat House of Representatives.
Democrats hope to usher in a new political era in Washington if their party’s presidential candidate, Joe Biden, also wins.
While it likely won’t reach a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority, control of the Democratic Senate would also help hamper a second Trump term.
Gardner was among more than half a dozen party incumbents in the first term in states that also include Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Montana and North Carolina. Democrat Gary Peters is on the defensive in Michigan.
EXPECTED DELAYS IN RESULTS
The results of some races may not be known until after Election Day, due to the unprecedented volume of ballots sent by mail this year and possible runoff elections in four races.
Delayed results could occur in Arizona and Maine, where Democrats are heavily favored to swap Republican seats.
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The final results of a four-way race in Maine between Collins, Democrat Sara Gideon and two independent candidates could be delayed from 10 days to two weeks if neither candidate wins an outright majority and the race is forced into an automatic second round under the state classification choice. voting system, according to a state election official.
Maine voters can rank candidates in order of preference. Without a clear winner on election night, the contest would enter a series of knockout rounds in which lower-ranking candidates drop out until a winner emerges.
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Two elections for a pair of Senate seats in Georgia could face a similar fate, except that the second round elections would be delayed until January 5.
In Arizona, Democrat Mark Kelly may be poised to oust Republican Sen. Martha McSally. But county officials have up to 20 days to review the election results. McSally’s failed 2018 election contest against Democratic Senator Kyrsten Sinema took six days to produce a winner.
In Michigan, where Peters could be vulnerable to a setback from Republican John James, state election officials are warning that final results may not be available until Friday.
The outcome of a close contest in Montana between Republican incumbent Steve Daines and Gov. Steve Bullock may not be known until Wednesday, according to state and Democratic Party election officials.
If Democrats emerge from the election with control of the Senate, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer has vowed to let nothing stand in their way. “There is nothing off the table,” he said.
