Hard-fought and expensive contests in Georgia and North Carolina remained neck and neck on Wednesday, with Republican incumbents holding slim leads over Democratic challengers. Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins defeated Democratic challenger Sara Gideon. The edge held by the incumbents made it difficult, though not yet impossible, for Democrats to net the three or four seats needed to claim the Senate majority.
In North Carolina, Republican incumbent Thom Tillis declared victory even though The Associated Press said the race remained too close to call, prompting his Democratic opponent, Cal Cunningham, to refuse to concede. With an estimated 93% of the vote already counted, Tillis led by just under 2 percentage points.
After winning the House majority in 2018, Democrats had hoped they would be able to wrest control of the Senate away from Republicans in the contentious general election, which saw extraordinary voter turnout amid the COVID-19 pandemic that has killed more than 232,000 Americans.
The party that ultimately prevails in the Senate will face the challenge of negotiating a new pandemic relief bill, as the coronavirus continues to rage across the country, with officials warning of new spikes as the weather cools.
In one of Georgia's two Senate races, with an estimated 96% of the vote counted, incumbent Republican David Perdue held a 3-point lead over Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff.
In Georgia's other Senate race, to replace a senator who retired for health reasons, officials said Wednesday that a runoff election would be held in January to choose between Democrat Raphael Warnock and incumbent Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler, who was appointed last year.
In Alaska, with only about half the expected total votes had been tallied, with Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan significantly ahead of Democrat Al Gross.
Across 35 elections for Senate seats this year, 14 races were competitive, voting records show. In the other 21 races, 11 Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and 10 Democrats, including Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey — once a 2020 U.S. presidential hopeful — cruised to reelection. The other 65 of the upper chamber's 100 seats were not up for reelection this year.
Six of the 14 close races were called for Republicans on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, including in Alabama, where Republican challenger Tommy Tuberville defeated Democratic incumbent Doug Jones by more than 25 points, with 99% of expected votes counted. Democratic Sen. Gary Peters held on in Michigan, where the AP called the race late Wednesday with Republican John James trailing by just over 1% with 98% of votes reported.
Democrats flipped a pair of seats as well: In Arizona, with 83% of expected votes in, astronaut Mark Kelly held 53% and Republican incumbent Martha McSally had 47%. And in Colorado, with 88% of its estimated votes in, Democrat John Hickenlooper had nearly 54% of the vote and incumbent Republican Cory Gardner had 44%.
To garner a majority in the Senate, Democrats would need to pick up at least three seats, and the minority party went into the race aware that Jones, in Alabama, was vulnerable. Without a Democrat in the White House whose vice president could break the tie in a deadlocked vote, Democrats would need an additional seat to ensure they could prevail in a vote along party lines.
Should the Republican candidates' leads hold, the GOP would retain control of the upper chamber. McConnell, who kept his seat in Kentucky, has told reporters he would seek to lead the Senate's Republicans again.
--Additional reporting by Andrew Kragie. Editing by Alyssa Miller and Jill Coffey.
Update: This story has been updated with new details about the Senate races.
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