Democrats will stay in control of the U.S. Senate next year after Democratic US Senator Catherine Cortez Masto won re-election in Nevada, Edison Research projected on Saturday, handing a major victory to President Joe Biden.
Still, Republicans remained close to winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives as officials continued counting ballots cast in Tuesday’s US midterm elections.
Cortez Masto narrowly defeated Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
With Masto’s victory on the heels of Democratic Senator Mark Kelly winning re-election in Arizona late on Friday, Democrats will control at least 50 Senate seats, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break ties in the 100-member chamber.
The Senate is split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. The newly elected Senate will be sworn in on January 3.
If Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock were to win the December 6 Georgia runoff election against Republican challenger Herschel Walker, that would expand Democrats’ majority to 51-49. That, in turn, would give Democrats an additional edge in passing a limited number of controversial bills that are allowed to advance with a simple majority of votes, instead of the 60 needed for most legislation.
Democratic Senators Joe Manchin in West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona are “swing” votes who have blocked or delayed some of Biden’s major initiatives, including expansions of some social programs.
But with 51 Democratic seats in the upcoming Congress, Manchin’s and Sinema’s influence would be slightly diluted.
It was still unknown which party will hold the majority in the U.S. House of Representatives for the next two years. Republicans continued to have an edge, but returns were still flowing in for several races, including many in liberal-leaning California.
Democrats scored a significant upset on Saturday with a projected victory in Washington’s 3rd congressional district, where Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Trump-endorsed Joe Kent.