U.S.
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Republicans secured control of the Senate and tightened their grip on the House on Tuesday as Republicans rode a wave a voter discontent across the United States.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was projected to be re-elected in Kentucky, holding off Democratic challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes in a $76 million contest. It was the first significant result to bend the Republicans' way, but others came as the night drew on.
Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton provided another blow, unseating Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor. The GOP also picked up Senate seats in West Virginia, where Rep. Shelley Moore Capito became the first Republican to win in the state in more than half a century, and in South Dakota, where the GOP's Mike Rounds defeated Rick Weiland to take a third seat for the Republicans.
After polls closed in the Mountain time zone, Steve Daines in Montana was projected to secure the fourth Republican gain over Democratic state Sen. Amanda Curtis. And, in a bitter disappointment for Democrats, incumbent Sen. Mark Udall fell in Colorado to his Republican opponent Rep. Cory Gardner.
With Iowa state Sen. Joni Ernst's winning her U.S. Senate race over Rep. Bruce Braley, it was confirmed that Republicans will control the Senate. McConnell is expected to be the Senate majority leader.
Amid an otherwise bleak night for the Democrats, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire defended her seat from Republican Scott Brown, a former senator from Massachusetts who had surged in the polls ahead of Tuesday's election.
Some 36 Senate seats were up for grabs in the midterm elections, but final results may not be known Tuesday night. The Louisiana race is already projected to go to a runoff between incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu and Republican Bill Cassidy. Alaska's final tally may take days.
Another race that many analysts predicted could go to a runoff, in Georgia, was called for Republican businessman David Perdue earlier than expected, with Democrat Michelle Dunn conceding shortly before midnight.
Even with Senate control hanging in the balance, voter turnout was expected to be low. That is despite the efforts of both parties and an influx of campaign cash estimated to be in the region of $4 billion, making these the most expensive midterm elections ever.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives were at stake, with Republicans projected to retain control, as well as 36 governorships.
While voting was underway across the country, President Obama phoned in to Connecticut’s NPR affiliate Tuesday afternoon to comment that the political landscape for these midterms tilted against Senate Democrats, saying "this is probably the worst possible group of states for Democrats since Dwight Eisenhower.”
Democrats entered the elections with a 53-45 Senate majority, in addition to the two independents who caucus with the Democrats. Pollsters gave the GOP a strong chance of winning back the Senate majority they lost in 2006.
The Republican Senate will shape the remainder of Obama's term in office and change the legislative calculus in a gridlocked Congress.
"Friends, this experiment in big government has lasted long enough," McConnell told supporters at a post-election party in Louisville, Ky. "It’s time to go in a new direction."
In South Carolina, Republican Lindsey Graham was projected to easily win his third term in the Senate, while fellow Republican Tim Scott was elected to finish his term in the state's other seat.
Other hotly contested races were yet to be called. In Virginia, Republican Ed Gillespie and Democrat Mark Warner continued to run closer than anticipated.
The wildest wild card of all was in Kansas, where 78-year-old Republican Sen. Pat Roberts is in a competitive race with independent Greg Orman.
Republicans had expressed optimism about their chances to win control of the Senate, while Democrats countered that a costly get-out-the-vote program to encourage millions of African-Americans, young people and women to vote could save their majority.
Meanwhile, there was little suspense about House races, beyond the extent of the new Republican majority. A gain of 13 seats would give the GOP its largest representation since it stood at 246 in 1946. Democrats concentrated on protecting their incumbents, a strategy that meant tacitly conceding races in Utah, New York and North Carolina, where retirements created opportunities for Republicans to pad their majority.
The 36 gubernatorial contests include an unusual number of incumbents who appeared to be struggling heading into the election.
The GOP is defending 22 governor's seats, while Democrats are trying to hold on to 14. Many of the incumbents are vulnerable. A half-dozen Republican governors who swept into office in 2010 — some with tea party support — are struggling to hang on to office.
One of them, Rick Scott in Florida, was projected to hold off Democrat Charlie Crist in a tight race.
But Democrat Tom Wolf upended another GOP governor with tea party support, Pennsylvania's Tom Corbett, in a result The National Journal said marked the first time an incumbent governor in the state lost a re-election.
Obama raised millions of dollars for Democratic candidates over the past two years, but candidates in state after state decided not to be photographed by his side. Obama was in eight states in the campaign's final days, hoping to help gubernatorial candidates in Maryland, Illinois, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Maine.
There are nearly 150 ballot measures being decided Tuesday, including legalization of recreational marijuana use in Alaska, Oregon and Washington, D.C. Anti-abortion measures in Colorado, North Dakota and Tennessee, and labeling requirements for certain genetically modified foods in Colorado and Oregon will also be decided.
With wire services
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