Republicans Take Senate Majority for First Time in 4 Years

WASHINGTON: Republicans seized control of U.S. Senate late Tuesday after flipping Democratic held seats, holding onto GOP incumbents and wresting away majority for first time in four years.

unexpected battleground of Nebraska pushed Republicans over top. Incumbent GOP Sen. Deb Fischer brushed back a surprisingly strong challenge from independent newcomer Dan Osborn.

Democrats watched ir efforts to salv ir slim majority slip out of reach as tallies rolled in across a map that favored Republicans.

Early in night, Republicans flipped one seat in West Virginia, with election of Jim Justice, who easily replaced retiring Sen. Joe Manchin.

Democratic efforts to oust firebrand Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas and Rick Scott of Florida collapsed.

While Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide in almost 30 years, Colin Allred, a Dallas-area congressman and former NFL linebacker, positioned himself as a moderate and leaned into his support for reproductive rights amid Texas’ abortion ban, which is one of strictest in nation.

Cruz's victory came after Democratic efforts to salv ir Senate majority evaporated when Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown in Ohio lost his reelection to Republican Bernie More, a wealthy Trump-era newcomer.

Brown’s loss to More, an immigrant from Bogota, Colombia, who built a fortune as a luxury car dealer and blockchain entrepreneur, puts Democrats on edge of losing Senate control. A three-term senator, he is first incumbent to lose reelection.

Ohio race between Brown and More, who was backed by Donald Trump , is most expensive of cycle, at some $400 million.

With control of Congress at stake, contests for House and Senate will determine which party holds majority and power to boost or block a president’s nda, or if White House confronts a divided Capitol Hill.

focus w turns to Democratic “blue-wall” states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, where Democrats are fighting to protect seats in what’s left of ir slim hold on Senate.

In end, just a handful of seats, or as little as one, could tip balance in eir chamber. With a 50-50 Senate, party in White House determines majority, since vice president is a tie-breaker.

Already several states will send history-makers to Senate.

Voters elected two Black women to Senate, Democrat Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware and Democrat Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, in a historic first.

Blunt Rochester won open seat in her state while Alsobrooks defeated Maryland's popular former goverr, Larry Hogan. Just three Black women have served in Senate, and never before have two served at same time.

And in New Jersey, Andy Kim became first Korean American elected to Senate, defeating Republican businessman Curtis Bashaw. seat opened when Bob Menendez resigned this year after his federal conviction on bribery charges.

Elsewhere, House candidate Sarah McBride, a Democratic state lawmaker from Delaware who is close to Biden family, won her race, becoming first openly trans person elected to Congress.

key contests are playing out alongside first presidential election since Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Capitol, but also in unexpected corners of country after what has been one of most chaotic congressional sessions in modern times.

Voters said ecomy and immigration were top issues facing country, but future of democracy was also a leading motivator for many Americans casting ballots in presidential election.

AP VoteCast, an expansive survey of more than 110,000 voters nationwide, found a country mired in negativity and desperate for change as Americans faced a stark choice between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris .

Congress plays a role in upholding American tradition of peacefully transferring presidential power. Four years ago, Trump sent his mob of supporters to “fight like hell” at Capitol, and many Republicans in Congress voted to block President Joe Biden ’s election. Congress will again be called upon to certify results of presidential election in 2025.

Billions of dollars have been spent by parties, and outside groups, on narrow battleground for both 435-member House and 100-member Senate.

Top House races are focused in New York and California, where Democrats are trying to claw back some of 10 or so seats where Republicans have made surprising gains in recent years with star lawmakers who helped deliver party to power.

Or House races are scattered around country in a sign of how narrow field has become. Only a couple of dozen seats are being seriously challenged, with some of most contentious in Maine, “blue dot” around Omaha, Nebraska, and in Alaska.

Vote counting in some races could extend well past Tuesday.

“We’re in striking distance in terms of taking back House,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is in line to make history as first Black speaker if his party wins control, told Associated Press during a recent campaign swing through Sourn California.

But House Speaker Mike Johnson, drawing closer to Trump, predicts Republicans will keep “and grow” majority. He took over after Kevin McCarthy was booted from speaker’s office.

One of most-watched Senate races, in Montana, may be among last to be decided. Democrat Jon Tester, a popular three-term senator and “dirt farmer” is in fight of his political career against Trump-backed Tim Sheehy, a wealthy former NAVY Seal, who made derogatory comments about Native Americans, a key constituency in Western state.

Outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell has spent a career focused on seizing and keeping majority power, but or opportunities for Republicans are slipping into long shots.

In Southwestern states, Arizona firebrand Republican Kari Lake has struggled against Democrat Ruben Gallego in seat opened by Sen. Krysten Sinema’s retirement. In Nevada, Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen has been holding out against newcomer Sam Brown.

Democrats intensified ir challenges to a pair of Republican senators — Cruz of Texas and Scott in Florida — in states where reproductive rights have been a focus in aftermath of Supreme Court decision rolling back abortion access. Scott defeated Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell, a former member of Congress.

What started as a lackluster race for control of Congress was instantly transformed once Harris stepped in for Biden at top of ticket, energizing Democrats with massive fundraising and volunteers that lawmakers said reminded m of Obama-era enthusiasm of 2008.

Fallout from redistricting, when states redraw ir maps for congressional districts, is also shifting balance of power within House, with Republicans set to gain several seats from Democrats in rth Carolina and Democrats picking up a second Black-majority seat in Republican-heavy Alabama.

Lawmakers in House face voters every two years, while senators serve longer six-year terms.

If two chambers do in fact flip party control, as is possible, it would be rare.

Records show that if Democrats take House and Republicans take Senate, it would be first time that chambers of Congress have both flipped to opposing political parties.