The Archive

SPECIAL EDITION

Republicans poised to flip the Senate

Breaking news: Republicans are poised to win the Senate majority, flipping blue seats in Ohio and West Virginia while blocking Democrats’ potential pickup opportunities in Florida and Texas.

This gives Republicans a 51-49 edge with a chance to grow it further with a win in Montana and more victories in the Rust Belt and in southwest states where the Senate races are too close to call. Former President Donald Trump is leading in the Blue Wall states right now.

The expected Senate victory would end a four-year Democratic majority, including two years with an unprecedented 50-50 split. It also allows Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell to end his historic tenure as GOP leader by handing a majority to his successor. Who that will be is up in the air.

Republican Bernie Moreno’s victory over Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) gave the GOP an outright majority in the chamber. Earlier, West Virginia GOP Gov. Jim Justice easily won the contest to replace retiring Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.).

Up next: The Senate races in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Nebraska haven’t yet been called. With the exception of Nebraska, all of these seats are currently held by Democrats. So any GOP win would give Senate Republican leaders a bigger governing cushion.

Operatives in both parties believe the outcomes in the Blue Wall Senate races will follow the results of the presidential race in those states.

We don’t expect Nevada or Arizona to be called before Wednesday morning. And in Nebraska, independent Dan Osborn is making it surprisingly close against Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.).

Dems’ hopes quickly vanished: Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) romped to reelection in Florida. Democrats had hoped they could be competitive in Florida due in part to an abortion rights amendment.

This didn’t make any difference in the end (and the abortion rights amendment failed to pass). Scott — who’s only ever run in extremely close elections — won with easily the most comfortable margin of his political career.

The same was the case in Texas, where Democratic Rep. Colin Allred was unable to topple Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Democrats have long had high hopes in the Lone Star State, especially given Cruz’s general unpopularity. For now, Republicans remain in control there.

New senators: There will be a handful of freshmen senators in the chamber next year who are taking over for a retiring senator from the same party.

In Delaware, Democratic Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester will replace retiring Democratic Sen. Tom Carper. And with Sen. Laphonza Butler (D-Calif.) deciding not to run for a full term, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) easily defeated his GOP opponent Steve Garvey.

Sen. Mike Braun (R-Ind.) won the Hoosier State’s gubernatorial race and will be replaced by Rep. Jim Banks (R-Ind.).

In Maryland, former GOP Gov. Larry Hogan came up short in his bid against Democrat Angela Alsobrooks, who will replace the retiring Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.). Democrats were forced to spend millions of dollars in deep-blue Maryland to boost Alsobrooks.

Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) will be sworn in as the Garden State’s next senator. Kim replaces Sen. George Helmy (D-N.J.), who was appointed to fill out the remaining few months of disgraced Sen. Bob Menendez’s (D-N.J.) term.

Lastly, Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) will be replaced by Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah), a moderate with a nontraditional record on climate issues and a supporter of Ukraine aid.

— Andrew Desiderio