The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
McConnell wins reelection; control of Senate is at stake
WASHINGTON — Republicans fought to keep control of the Senate on Tuesday in a razor-close contest against a surge of Democrats challenging President Donald Trump’s allies across a vast political map.
Polls started closing in key states where some of the nation’s most wellknown senators were on the ballot. In Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell fended off Democrat Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot in a costly campaign, but he acknowledged his GOP colleagues face tougher races.
It could be a long wait, as both parties saw paths to victory, and the outcome might not have been known on election night.
From New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, Republicans are defending seats in states once considered long shots for Democrats.
The Trump administration’s handling of the COVID-19 crisis, its economic fallout and the nation’s uneasy mood all seemed to be on the ballot.
Trump loomed large over the Senate races as did Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. They swooped into key states, including Iowa, Georgia and Michigan, in the final days of the campaigns.
Voters ranked the pandemic and the economy as top concerns, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of the electorate.
Securing the Senate majority will be vital for the winner of the presidency. Senators confirm administration nominees, including the Cabinet, and can propel or stall the White House agenda.
With Republicans now controlling the chamber, 53-47, three or four seats will determine party control, depending on who
wins the presidency because the vice president can break a tie.
As polls closed in South Carolina, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham was in the fight of his political life against Democrat Jamie Harrison, whose campaign stunned Washington by
drawing more than $ 100 million in small-scale donations.
More than 13,000 votes in one county will be delayed and have to be counted by hand by Friday’s deadline to certify returns.
Polls also closed in Georgia, where two Senate seats were being contested. They could easily push to a Jan. 5 runoff if no candidate reaches the 50% threshold to win.
The Senate will welcome some newcomers as others retire. In Tennessee, Republican Bill Hagerty won the seat held by Sen. Lamar Alexander, who is retiring.
The campaigns were competing across an expansive map as Democrats put Republicans on defense deep into Trump country.
So far, incumbent senators in less competitive races easily won.
Several Democrats were reelected, including No. 2 leader Dick Durbin of Illinois, Mark Warner in Virginia and Ed Markey, who survived a primary challenge in Massachusetts. Chris Coons kept the Delaware seat once held by Biden, defeating a Republican who previously promoted the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.
Among Republicans,
Sen. Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia and James Inhofe in Oklahoma won.
Stuck in Washington to confirm Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett a week before Election Day, senators quickly fanned out — some alongside the president — for last-ditch tours, often socially distanced in the pandemic, to shore up votes.
Tillis joined Trump’s rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, on Monday as Tillis struggled against Cunningham despite the married challenger’s sexting scandal with a public relations strategist. Cunningham traveled around the state Tuesday, talking to voters in Efland, near Durham.
The state Board of Elections voted Tuesday to keep four North Carolina polling places open longer — 45 minutes at most — because they opened late, and that was expected to delay statewide reporting of results.