Republicans appear poised to retain control of U.S. Senate as Democrats win in Arizona, Colorado

Control of the Senate is a razor-close proposition in the election as Republicans fight to retain their majority against Democratic candidates who are challenging U.S. President Donald Trump's allies across a vast political map.

Securing control of the Senateisvital for the winner of the presidency. Senators confirm administration nominees, including the cabinet, and can propel or stall the White House agenda. With Republicans now controlling the chamber, 53-47, three or four seats will determine party control, depending on who wins the presidency, because the vice-president can break a tie.

The Republicans maintain a slight advantage as votes continue to be counted.

Democrats picked up seats in Arizona and Colorado, andRepublicans picked up one in Alabama in the battle for controlof the Senate in Tuesday's elections.

Democrats failed to capturea seat in Maine as Susan Collins seen as a moderate Republican not always in favour of Trump's approach fended off Sara Gideon, the state House Speaker. Both candidates said a concession call was made, with Collins heading back for a fifth term in the Senate.

Collins said the outcome was "affirmation of the work that I'm doing in Washington."

The Democratic Partywas also disappointed by a clear win in South Carolina for Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham after reportedly pouring in more than$100 million US for the campaign of Jaime Harrison.Graham, in securinga fourth term in his defeat of Harrison, had made direct appeals for cash on Fox News.

Republicans were also threatening to flip a seat in Michigan, as John James, a Black Republican businessman, was running neck-and-neck with Democratic Sen. Gary Peters with 95 per cent of the vote in by Wednesday afternoon. But by Wednesday evening, the vote had flipped just enough, and Peters was declared re-elected.

Speaking before the Collins win, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Trump's campaign helped his colleagues in their racesbut that it was still too soon to declare victory as state election officials count ballots.

"We're waiting whether I'm going to be the majority leader or not," McConnell told a newsconference in his home state of Kentucky after earning a seventh term with a win over Democrat Amy McGrath.

WATCH | How the election unfolded:

How U.S. election night unfolded in 7 minutes

4 years ago

Duration 7:09

Watch highlights of our coverage of the U.S. presidential election.

Republican Steve Daines of Montana won a second Senate term early Wednesday, dealing another blow to the Democrats' hopes. The former business executive and Trump loyalist defeated Gov.Steve Bullock.

In Iowa, Republican Sen. Joni Ernst won a second term, fending off a competitive challenge from Des Moines real estate developer Theresa Greenfield. Ernst has been an ardent supporter of Trump.

Democrats flip 2 seats, lose 1

Republican Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado was defeated by Democrat John Hickenlooper, a popular former two-term governor who repeatedly tied Gardner to Trump politically during the race.

Democrats have won every statewide race since Gardner's election, with the exception of a board of regents position in 2016.

"It's time for a different approach," Hickenlooper said in alive video message posted on Facebook.

In Arizona, Democrat Mark Kelly won theSenate seat once held by John McCain, riding Arizona's changing electorate to flip a Republican Senate seat in a state long dominated by the GOP.

Kelly, a former astronaut and husband of former congresswoman and gun-control activist Gabby Giffords, defeated Republican Martha McSally.

Several other Democrats were re-elected, including Dick Durbin in Illinois, Ed MarkeyinMassachusetts, Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, Cory Booker inNew Jersey, Mark Warner inVirginia, Tina Smith in Minnesota and Jack Reed inRhode Island.

Early on Tuesday night, Republicans took back Alabama as expected, with former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville heading to Congress. Democratic Sen. Doug Jones had been widely consideredthe Senate's most endangered Democrat.

Tuberville, who has never held public office, aligned himself closely withthe presidentand declared in the primary campaign, "God sent us Donald Trump," as the president endorsed him over his former attorney general, Jeff Sessions.

WATCH | 'People like what I'm doing,' says Lindsey Graham on Senate re-election:

Lindsey Graham on Senate re-election: 'People like what I'm doing'

4 years ago

Duration 0:41

Republican Lindsey Graham told supporters in South Carolina that he's 'going back to the Senate with a purpose' after winning a fourth term.

Republican Sen. John Cornyn of Texasdefeated Democrat MJ Hegar in his hardest-fought battle in almost two decades as Democrats poured millions of dollars into Hegar's campaign.

Key contests still undecided

When Johnny Isakson retired in Georgia, fellow Republican Kelly Loeffler was appointed by the governor to take his Senateseat.

On Tuesday, Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnockadvanced to a Jan. 5 run-off in the special election for Loeffler's Senate seat.

Loeffler faced her first electoral testnot just from Warnockbut also from RepublicanRep.Doug Collins, who was eliminated from the race.

In a three-person race, the top two candidates competein a run-off election on Jan. 5 if no candidate reaches 50 per cent of the vote, according toGeorgia's rules.

In the other Georgia Senate race, Republican Sen. David Perdue, aformer business executive Trump calls his favourite senator, tried to stave off Democrat Jon Ossoff, another candidate who has benefited from the "green wave" of campaign donations. It, too, could go to a run-off.

North Carolina's race between incumbent Republican Thom Tillis and Democratic candidate Cal Cunningham was relatively close and yet to be officially called, with Tillis leading.

The Alaska race had yet to be called with votes still coming in, but Republican congressman Dan Sullivanappeared on his way to jumping to the Senate with a healthy lead over Al Gross.

Potential 2024 presidential candidates win

In Arkansas, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton won re-election in a race that's allowed him to lay the groundwork for a potential 2024 White House bid.

Nebraska Republican Ben Sasse was re-elected, beating Democrat Chris Janicek. Sasse, also a potential 2024 candidate, benefited from an overwhelming Republican advantage after having heavily criticized Trump on a call to constituents.

Shelley Moore Capito became the first West Virginia Republican to be re-elected to the Senate in more than a century.

In a repeat of a 2018 special election, Cindy Hyde-Smith defeated Democrat Mike Espy in Mississippi.

The Senate will welcome some newcomers as others retire. In New Mexico, Democrat Ben Ray Lujan, a member of the House leadership, was elected to the seat held by Democrat Tom Udall. Tennessee Republican Bill Hagerty won the seat held by Republican Lamar Alexander. Republican Cynthia Lummis, the former congresswoman from Wyoming, won the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mike Enzi.

Democrats secured a seat inOregon but weren't able to defeat the Republican opponents in Idaho and Kansas, where Democraticstate Sen. Barbara Bollierhad managed to raisemore than $25 million US for the campaign.

Democrat majority in House potentially reduced

Disappointed Democrats drove Wednesday toward extending their control of the House for two more years but with a potentially shrunken majority as they lost at least seven incumbents and failed to oust any Republican lawmakers in initial returns.

By midmorning on Wednesday, Democrats' only gains were two North Carolina seats vacated by Republican incumbents after a court-ordered remapping made the districts more Democratic. Though they seemed likely to retain House control, their performance was an unexpected disappointment for the party, which hoped for modest gains of perhaps 15 seats.

After decades of trying, Republicans defeated 15-term Rep. Collin Peterson from a rural Minnesota district. He was defeated by Republican Michelle Fischbach, the former lieutenant governor.

Also losing were freshmen Democrats Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and Donna Shalala, health secretary under president Bill Clinton, in adjacent South Florida districts where Trump seemed to consolidate support among Cuban voters.

Others that were defeated were Democratic freshmen Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, Xochitl Torres Small of New Mexico and Kendra Horn in Oklahoma, who had surprising victories in 2018 in districts Trump carried decisively in 2016.

Max Rose, a New York congressman who upset many of his Staten Island constituents by voting for impeachment, appeared headed to defeat against Republican challenger Nicole Malliotakis, a member of the state assembly.

Illinois's Cheri Bustos, another prominent Democrat, was in a tight race after having won by 24 percentage points in 2018.

The Democrats will send two new members to Washingtonfrom New York: Jamaal Bowman, seen as a progressive in the mould of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Ritchie Torres, who will be thefirst openly gay Hispanic member of Congress.

Democrats controlled the House 232-197 heading into the election, with five open seats and one independent. It takes 218 seats to control the chamber.

A smaller Democratic majority would make it tougher for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, to unite her lawmakers as a handful of progressive freshmen arrive for the new Congress.

"Our purpose in this race was to win so that we could protect the Affordable Care Act and so that we could crush the virus," Pelosi told reporters, citing former president Barack Obama's health-care legislation. She declared that Democrats had won the House majority, which seemed highly likely but hadn't been officially declared by The Associated Press.

Cortez (New York), Ilhan Omar (Minnesota), Ayanna Pressley (Massachusetts) and Rashida Tlaib (Michigan) the so-called Squad subjected to verbal attacks by Trump that many Democrats have branded as racist all won their contests as expected.

At the other end of the political spectrum, Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene and Colorado's Lauren Boebert who've espoused unfounded QAnon conspiracy theories will debut in Congress. Trump has called Greene a "future Republican star."

QAnon asserts that Trump is quietly waging a battle against pedophiles in government, but the FBI says it is potentially a domestic terror threat.

"Certainly we have had cases where that properly predicatecasesinvolving violence where people have been motivated by some of those conspiracy theories," FBI director Christopher Wraysaid in recent congressional testimony.

What do you want to know about the U.S. election? Email us atAsk@cbc.ca.