Republicans pick up Senate seat with Braun win in Indiana
Republican challenger Mike Braun unseated Sen. Joe Donnelly in Indiana
on Tuesday, making Democrats' hopes of turning the Senate blue a taller
order.
NBC News and ABC News called the race in Braun's favor with 56 percent of the votes counted.
Heading into Election Day, Republicans controlled the Senate with 51
seats to Democrats' 49. The latter needed to pick up two seats to take
control, but with Donnelly's loss, they'll have to count on picking up
three seats.
The Democratic Party got its first pickup seats in the House with wins
from Donna Shalala and Jennifer Wexton in Florida and Virginia,
respectively.
With about 68 percent of the votes counted in Virginia's 10th District,
NBC News and CNN called the race in Wexton's favor over incumbent Rep.
Barbara Comstock. Former Secretary of Health and Human Services Shalala
defeated Maria Salazar in a race to fill the seat left vacant by
Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.
Another tossup district, Kentucky's 6th, went to Republicans. NPR and
Bloomberg projected the race for incumbent Rep. Andy Barr over
challenger Amy McGrath.
Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Tim Kaine, D-Va., Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., Amy
Klobuchar, D-Minn., Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., Bob Casey, D-Pa., Kirsten
Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio,
secured re-election.
Republican Marsha Blackburn won the Senate seat left open by retiring
Sen. Bob Corker. She becomes the state's first female senator.
The Indiana Senate race was one of about eight Senate races considered
to be tossups, including Democrat-held seats in Florida, Missouri,
Montana and West Virginia, and Republican-held seats in Arizona, Nevada
and Tennessee.
Democrats were seeking big wins in the key states of Texas and Florida
to fuel a potential "blue wave" in the Senate. Democrat Rep. Beto
O'Rourke looks to unseat Republican Ted Cruz in Texas and Sen. Bill
Nelson seeks to fend off Republican challenger Gov. Rick Scott, where
early returns gave the incumbent a lead.
In Montana, Democratic incumbent Jon Tester is in a tight race to keep
his seat against Republican challenger Matt Rosendale. With President
Donald Trump's help, Rosendale has closed the gap on Tester, who had led
the race by 9 points in a poll last month (47-38).
Democrats face better odds in the House, which had 235 Republicans, 193 Democrats and seven vacancies going into Tuesday.
Democrats need to pick up 23 Republican seats to seize the majority.
"The House playing field is exceptionally broad this year, because of
Republican retirements, an influx of Democratic cash and other factors,"
Nate Silver, the creator, and editor of FiveThirtyEight, said in a
statement Saturday.
One of the "must-have" House races for both parties was in Florida's
26th District, where Republican incumbent Rep. Carlos Curbelo was
fighting off a strong challenge from Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
Recent polling had them neck-and-neck.
The New York Times reported control could hinge on half a dozen of the
30 predicted tossup districts, five of which are in California.
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