Republican Senator McConnell Wins Re-Election, but His Party’s Majority at Risk

Republican Senate Majority Leader 👤Mitch McConnell won re-election on Tuesday, though his party’s majority in the chamber remains imperiled as it defends 12 hotly contested seats while Democrats are on the defense in just two races.

However, final results from at least five of those contests may not be available for days, and in some cases, months.

With public disapproval of President Donald Trump weighing on Republicans across the country, voters are deciding whether to end the political careers of embattled Republican senators, including Trump ally Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and moderate Susan Collins of Maine, among others.

In total, 12 Republican-held seats and two Democratic-held seats are in play, based on a Reuters analysis of three nonpartisan U.S. elections forecasters – the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia, the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections.

McConnell was among a dozen incumbents from both parties to be declared early winners, as expected. McConnell overcame a challenge in Kentucky from Democrat Amy McGrath, a former U.S. Marine Corps fighter pilot who out-fundraised McConnell by $40 million but was unable to overcome the state’s Republican sway.

All told, 35 of the Senate’s 100 seats are up for election.

“There are dogfights all over the country,” McConnell, the top Republican in Congress, said at a campaign stop earlier in the week. He described the possibility of Republicans holding onto the Senate majority as a “50-50 proposition.”

Those odds appear optimistic, based on the three forecasters.

They forecast that Democrats could emerge with as many as 55 Senate seats, giving them a majority for the first time in a decade in both the Senate and the 435-seat House of Representatives, where they are expected to maintain control.