Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., joined by his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, celebrates with his supporters at an election night party in Louisville Photo: AP |
WASHINGTON — Republicans pried the Senate from Democratic hands Tuesday night, knocking off incumbents in seven states to take control for the first time since 2006.
In an electoral blowout, the GOP wiped out the Democrats’ six-seat
majority, taking down incumbents in Colorado, North Carolina, and
Arkansas.
Republicans also picked up open seats previously held by Democrats in Iowa, West Virginia, South Dakota and Montana.
Three GOP wins — in Colorado, Iowa and North Carolina — came in swing states where Democrats are competitive.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky secured a place as the next Senate
majority leader after trouncing Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who at
one time had been in her party’s top tier of candidates.
McConnell beat her by a lopsided 56-41 percent margin, after running a
campaign where he succeeded in tying Grimes to unpopular President
Obama.
In a beaming victory speech, McConnell said the two parties didn’t have to be in “perpetual conflict.”
“I don’t expect the president to wake up tomorrow and view the world
any differently than he did when he woke up this morning. He knows I
won’t either,” McConnell said, igniting cheers.
“But look, we do have an obligation to work together on issues where we can agree.”
Newly elected U.S. Senator Cory Gardner celebrates with his wife Jamie at the Colorado Republican Party Election Night party.Photo: UPI |
One Democratic senator who survived the onslaught was Sen. Jeanne
Shaheen of New Hampshire, who turned back a challenge from former
Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown.
A Republican Senate will be able to kill President Obama’s
nominations and continue to stall his agenda while trying to force
concessions.
There were still more bright spots for the GOP.
In Virginia, former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie topped expectations and was barely losing to Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, with almost all of the votes in. With a losing margin of less than 1 percent, Gillespie could request a recount.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) was forced into a runoff with GOP Rep.
Bill Cassidy, who has a wide lead in head-to-head polling. Ballots were
still being counted in Alaska and other states with close Senate races.
With 22 GOP governors on the ballot, the party was bracing for some
losses Tuesday. But Republicans seized governor’s mansions in the
deep-blue states of Maryland, Massachusetts and even Illinois, Obama’s
home state.
In another marquee race, conservative Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback
withstood a tough Democratic challenge. Gov. Scott Walker hung on in
Wisconsin, and first-term Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott fended off a
challenge from Charlie Crist, the former GOP governor who switched
parties in an attempt to win back the seat.
Pennsylvania’s Republican Gov. Tom Corbett lost to Democrat Tom Wolf.
In the biggest early upset of the night, Colorado Republican Cory
Gardner defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall. “Tonight we shook
up the Senate,” Gardner told his supporters.
In Arkansas, despite a push by Bill and Hillary Clinton, Sen. Mark Pryor fell to Republican Tom Cotton.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., joined by his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, celebrates with his supporters at an election night party in Louisville Photo: AP |
Obama, nodding to the new political reality, summoned congressional
leaders from both parties to the White House for a meeting Friday.
“This is all on the president, because if he reacts like President
Clinton reacted [in 1994] then I think there’s a number of things that
can be done,” said Dave Hoppe, a former top aide to GOP Senate Majority
Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. “If he reacts, however, the way he
reacted after 2010, then I don’t know where you go.”
Reuters forecast Republicans would pad their House majority by several seats.
Even before the results were in, Obama was providing excuses for the
Democratic rout by pointing to the political map that was advantageous
to the GOP.
“It tends to be a little arbitrary which seats are really going to be
contested, which aren’t,” Obama told NPR. “This is possibly the worst
possible group of states for Democrats since Dwight Eisenhower. There
are a lot of states that are being contested where they just tend to
tilt Republican. And Democrats are competitive, but they tend to tilt
that way.”
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