WRONG WAY: North Carolina Democratic
Senator Kay Hagan's thumb pointed down by night's end, as she lost her
seat to Republican Thom Tillis
Republicans consolidated their power on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, picking up more seats than they needed to gain control of the U.S.Senate – and leaving President Obama a lame duck for the last two years of his presidency.
Their
triumphs included key wins in Arkansas, West Virginia, Montana, South
Dakota, Colorado, North Carolina and Iowa, all seats controlled by
Democrats when the day began.
And
if the Senate was the cake, governor's mansions would become sweet
icing for the GOP as they took home three unexpected gubernatorial wins
in Maryland, Illinois and Massachusetts.
While
she was predicted to lose, a 20-point shellacking made for a difficult
evening for Wendy Davis, the liberal standard-bearer who saw her dream
of becoming Texas governor go up in flames at the hands of state
Attorney General Greg Abbott.
Another big theme on Tuesday was how little the support of big name politicians meant to Democrats in tight races.
Bill
and Hillary Clinton saw seven of the U.S. Senate hopefuls they stumped
for suffer major losses, while President Obama and the first lady proved
ineffective at stopping momentum from swinging towards the Republican
party.
By night's end it was hard to find bright spots for Obama's party as result after crushing result came rolling in.
Joni
Ernst, an Iowan who grew up castrating pigs on a hog farm – a
qualification that her TV ads said shows she knows how to 'cut pork' in
Washington – won her Senate race, delivering the victory that handed the
upper chamber of Congress to the Republican Party.
'We
are going to make 'em squeal!' she told supporters during a victory
rally, referring to entrenched interests – mostly Democratic ones.
Moments
after that contest was decided, North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis
sent Democratic Senator Kay Hagan packing, giving the GOP a 52-seat
majority in Congress.
Congressman
Cory Gardner prevailed in Colorado, defeating Democrat Mark Udall.
Moments later the race in Montana was over, giving Republican Steve
Daines a victory over Democrat Amanda Curtis.
With that, the GOP's magic number had closed to just one.
Perdue's
stunning performance will easily put him over the 50 per cent threshold
he needed to avoid a January runoff. In Louisiana, another closely
watched race will have to be fought again since neither major candidate
could collect more than half the votes.
But
Louisiana's eventual results will matter little. Republicans will have
at least 52 seats in the Senate when the new Congress is sworn in on
January 3.
The Republican National Committee took a massive victory lap after the North Carolina race's outcome was no longer in doubt.
'The
American people have put their trust in the Republican Party, sending a
GOP majority to the U.S. Senate,' said RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.
'Our
party's principles and message resonated with voters across the
country. This was a rejection of President Obama's failed polices and
Harry Reid's dysfunctional Senate.'
'Republicans
have been given the opportunity to lead the country in a better
direction, and the Republican House and Senate are ready to listen to
the American people. We hope President Obama will too.'
'It's
time to get to work on creating jobs, expanding American energy
development, pursuing real healthcare reform, reducing spending, reining
in the federal government, and keeping America safe.'
Gardner,
Daines and Perdue rode a wave that could give Republicans control of
the Senate – and, therefore, both houses of Congress – for the first
time in ten years. But they needed to 'flip' six seats currently held by
Democrats to pull off the feat.
The
GOP held just 45 of the Senate's 100 seats as voters woke up Tuesday.
Democrats held 53, and two independent members caucus with them.
In
one of the most hotly contested contests, Republican Congressman Tom
Cotton defeated incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Pryor to snatch his
Senate seat.
South
Dakota Republican Mike Rounds won his contest, notching another pickup
for the GOP on a night when it needs six to capture a victory that was
unthinkable just two years ago, when President Barack Obama enjoyed high
approval ratings and controlled a buoyant post-re-election bounce.
An
hour earlier another Republican Congresswoman, Shelley Moore Capito
gave Republicans the first of six big wins they need in order to win
big.
That
seat, previously held by Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller, now goes into
the GOP column. Democratic nominee Natalie Tennant, the West Virginia
secretary of state and a former television news anchor, couldn't come up
with enough support in the state's coal country to mount a serious
challenge.
COTTON BRAWL: Rep. Tom Cotton (left)
took an Arkansas US Senate seat away from the Democrats on Tuesday,
defeating incumbent Mark Pryor
Senate Minority
Leader Mitch McConnell won handily against Alison Lundergan Grimes
(left) and will be the new Majority Leader in 2015
Moore
Capito, daughter of popular former Gov. Arch Moore, decided last year
to leave her House seat in order to campaign for job. Democrats have had
a decades-long hammerlock on West Virginia's Senate seats.
Tuesday also marked the first time since 1930 that Republicans will control the state House of Representatives.
As
clocks struck 8:00 on the East coast, Republicans had more reasons to
rejoice when Democrats failed to defeat any GOP incumbents.
The
Republican Party held its ground in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas,
Kentucky, Maine, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming.
In
Oklahoma and South Carolina there were two races – one regular election
and one special election – with all four races won by Republicans.
Overall,
the GOP has picked up seven seats. Every other finalized Senate seat
has remained with the party that controlled it when voting began.
Democrats
held on in Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan,
Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon and Rhode
Island.
New
Hampshire also-ran Republican Scott Brown refused to concede. The
margin of his apparent loss was less than one-half of 1 per cent of the
votes cast.
The
two races in South Carolina and a marquee matchup in Kentucky were
quickly awarded to Republicans on Tuesday just minutes after polls
closed at 7:00.
Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, cruised to victory over Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes.
'Tomorrow the newspapers will say that I have won the race,' he told supporters in Louisville.
'The
truth is that I am now in a more important one – the race to turn this
country around; to restore hope and optimism to this Commonwealth and
also this great nation of ours.'
LET YOUR COLORS FLY: The Empire State
Building tower lights reflect mid-term election results in New York
City, showing considerably more GOP red than Democratic blue
He
also was muted in his talk of President Barack Obama, taking a break
from the anti-White House sentiment that has dominated his bruising
campaign.
'I don’t expect the president to wake up and view the world differently tomorrow,' he said.
‘He knows I won’t either,' he added as the crowd laughed.
A referendum not only on the president but on Hillary Clinton.
Republican Senator Rand Paul
But
both men, he said, 'have am obligation to work together on the issues
where we agree. Just as we have a two-party system, we do not have to be
in conflict at all times.'
However he did not hold back in his criticism of the current administration.
‘It
is a government that cannot be trusted to do the basic things because
it is too focused on things it should not be doing at all.
Sen. Rand Paul, a likely presidential hopeful two years from now, was nowhere near as forgiving.
McConnell's victory, he told reporters, 'was a referendum not only on the president but on Hillary Clinton.'
West Virginia Republican Rep. Shelley
Moore Capito (right) is now Senator-Elect Moore Capito. She won an open
seat there on Tuesday and will be the GOP's first senator from the
Mountaineer State in decades
OKLAHOMA
TWO-FER: Jim Inhofe (left) and James Lankford (right) both held on to
their Senate seats on Tuesday, buoying Republicans' effort to take over
the upper chamber of Congress
In
South Carolina, Senator Lindsey Graham held on to his seat, defeating
upstart state Senator Brad Hutto, whose campaign ran out of gas in the
last month.
The Palmetto State was one of only two states with a pair of Senate contests on Tuesday.
In
the other, Republican Sen. Tim Scott, the GOP's only African-American
senator, beat Democratic challenger Joyce Dickerson in a special
election.
South
Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley appointed Scott to replace retiring Sen. Jim
DeMint in December 2012. He retired to take the reins of the
conservative Heritage Foundation. Scott will now serve a 6-year term of
his own.
With
Tuesday's win, he became the first African-American elected to the
Senate from a former Confederate state since America's post-Civil War
Reconstruction.
The results came against a national backdrop of disillusionment at politicians of all stripes.
OOPS? Fox News broadcast exit polling results for New Hampshire's Senate race nearly an hour before the polls closed there
FIlm star Kate Hudson, along with half of Hollywood, it seemed, urged fans to vote on Tuesday
At Our Mother of Sorrows church in Louisville, Kentucky, there was an apt flavor of the sour mood rippling across the country.
Seventy-four-year-old
Jim Brinley, casting his ballot for Republicans, told the Associated
Press that an over-reaching government was 'ruining us' and wants to
'get back to government as it should be'.
Democrat
Keisha Matlock, a 38-year-old college student, wondered aloud, 'Why do
we even vote?' as she cast her ballot for Democrats.
Matlock
said she sees 'constant griping back and forth about who's right. And,
who's going to do this. And, who's going to do that in office.
Sometimes, they say these things and they never do it when they get in
there.'
And celebrities were called in to try to send people to the polls in the teeth of ill feelings towards politicians.
Among
those urging Americans to exercise their democratic mandate was Kate
Hudson, who posted a picture of herself with an 'I voted' badge on
Instagram.
Election
watchers expected big gains for the GOP, and Mitch McConnell's party
came through, as he will be taking over Democratic Sen. Harry Reid's
position as Majority Leader.
WHERE'S POTUS? President Barack Obama
met with HHS Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell (left), National Security
Adviser Susan Rice (right) and other officials while Americans voted,
focusing his energies on the Ebola crisis
NOT JUST SENATE RACES: Massachusetts
GOP gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker watches election results come
in with his daughter Caroline, left to right, wife Lauren and son
Charlie in their hotel suite
Exit polls provided TV viewers with a crystal ball to view races before the winners were determined.
The
Fox News Channel surveyed more than 20,000 Americans outside polling
places, and found an astonishing 49 per cent said they feared their
children won't fare better in the American economy than they have.
Fox
also broadcast exit polls just minutes after 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard
Time from the Senate race in New Hampshire, suggesting a 1-point edge
for Republican former Sen. Scott Brown over incumbent Democratic Sen.
Jeanne Shaheen.
The polls in the Granite States, however, don't close until 8:00.
Fox
News Executive PV Michael Clemente told MailOnline in a statement that
'according to the National Election Pool, we are permitted to report
exit poll results as long as we don’t characterize the outcome of the
race which we did not do earlier this evening.'
Shaheen appears to have won the race, indicating that voters didn't tell exit pollsters the whole story.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2821195/Republicans-way-victory-Senate-seats-two-states-hope-landslide-Democrats.html#ixzz3IAyhbrxA
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