LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Republicans won a Senate majority late Tuesday, ensuring they will be in complete control of Capitol Hill when the new Congress convenes in January.
The GOP wave finally swamped Democrats when Joni Ernst of Iowa became the sixth Republican candidate, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina the seventh, to seize seats from their opponents.
These wins followed pickups in Colorado, Arkansas, Montana and West Virginia. Republicans also fended off Democratic challenges in Kentucky and Kansas.
Republicans will have at least a 51-49 margin over Democrats who dominated the upper chamber throughout President Obama’s first six years in office. The Louisiana race will be decided in a Dec. 6 runoff; the Alaska race remains undecided.
Tuesday’s elections mean Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell will almost certainly become majority leader, a longtime ambition. It will be the first Republican congressional majority since 2006. Republicans for two years have campaigned to wrest the chamber from Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.
Reid released a statement late Tuesday congratulating McConnell, saying “I’d like to congratulate Senator McConnell, who will be the new Senate Majority Leader. The message from voters is clear: They want us to work together. I look forward to working with Senator McConnell to get things done for the middle class.”
Earlier in the evening, Republican National Committee Spokesman Sean Spicer said “If everyone who wants change in Washington gets out and votes, we will take the Senate.” The RNC was tracking a wealth of information on Tuesday’s voting as a part of an overhauled turnout and data analytics program the committee began implementing in late 2012, just after the GOP lost the White House and two Senate seats.
In Kentucky, McConnell decisively defeated Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes. In the final days of the midterm campaign, McConnell cast his candidacy as a referendum on President Obama and said putting Republicans in charge of the Senate was the only way to change America.
McConnell told his supporters he believes restoring trust in government was the key issue in his race. “When you get right down to it that’s what this campaign was really all about. It wasn’t about me or my opponent. It was about a government that people can no longer trust,” he said.
Ernst defeated Rep. Bruce Braley to succeed Sen. Tom Harkin. She becomes the first woman ever to represent Iowa and the first-ever woman combat veteran in the Senate. In West Virginia, Rep. Shelly Moore Capito defeated Democrat Natalie Tennant in the race to succeed the retiring Democrat Sen. Jay Rockefeller.
In Colorado, Rep. Cory Gardiner ousted Sen. Mark Udall, whose campaign was so focused on the Democrats’ War on Women meme that the Denver Post refused to endorse “Sen. Uterus.” In Montana, Rep. Steve Daines defeated Democrat Amanda Curtiss to win the seat formerly held by Sen Max Baucus.
In the Sunflower State, Sen. Pat Roberts turned back independent businessman Greg Orman in a bruising contest in which the GOP incumbent first had to get through a tough primary challenge by Tea Party favorite Dr. Milton Wolf and then come from behind in the general with the help of a parade of Republican celebrities, including 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin.
In Arkansas, Rep. Tom Cotton, a decorated Iraq and Afghanistan combat veteran easily swept past Sen. David Pryor. In Georgia, businessman David Perdue defeated Democrat Michelle Nunn, daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn.
Alaska had trended Republican in the final weeks of the campaign. However, Democratic Sen. Mark Begich was hoping to hold off former state Attorney General Dan Sullivan with a superior ground game. The state is notoriously difficult to poll, leaving Democrats hopeful that Begich, although trailing in most of the final public opinion polls, would pull it out. For that same reason, Republicans remained cautiously optimistic despite Sullivan’s lead of 2.4 percentage points in the final RealClearPolitics.com average in that race.
“Alaska has tightened dramatically in recent weeks and the strength of our ground game is unmatched in the state. We expect a close race that ultimately proves Mark Begich has been re-elected,” said Justin Barasky, spokesman for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
