The country is witnessing a fierce race for the White House.
In addition to the U.S. presidency, Democrats hope to gain control of the Senate, where Republicans currently hold a 53-seat majority in the 100-seat chamber. The battle spans 14 competitive races, although the end result may not be clear for some time.
It could lead to a new era in American politics, if the party also seizes the White House and clings to the US House of Representatives.
Here are the results so far:
TEXAS
Veteran Republican Senator John Cornyn withstood a challenge from Democrat M.J. Hegar.
Texas, once a Republican stronghold, has become increasingly competitive in recent years as the population has diversified and Donald Trump’s polarizing presidency alienated women from the suburbs.
The state has become a surprise battleground in this year’s presidential race, where opinion polls have shown Trump narrowly leading Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
The race for the Senate ended up being less competitive, despite Hegar’s strong fundraising. Edison Research projected that Cornyn would win re-election shortly after the polls closed.
Cornyn has been in the Senate since 2002.
Here are other races that may determine which party will control the Senate:
REPUBLICAN SEATS
ALASKA
First-year Republican Senator Dan Sullivan is favored to retain his seat in a hotly contested electoral battle against Al Gross, an independent running as the Democratic Party candidate.
The latest poll shows Sullivan has a slim 3 percentage point lead over Gross, according to poll tracking website FiveThirtyEight.com. But survey data has been a game-changer in recent weeks. Gross also outperformed Sullivan by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
ARIZONA
Republican Senator Martha McSally has fallen behind Democratic challenger Mark Kelly in fundraising and follows him on average by almost 6 percentage points in opinion polls, according to campaign tracking website RealClearPolitics.com .
McSally, a former U.S. Representative and U.S. Air Force combat pilot, was appointed to the seat once held by the late Republican Senator John McCain after losing her 2018 Senate bid to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema. Kelly, a former US Navy astronaut and combat pilot, has led McSally in opinion polls for over a year.
COLORADO
Republican Senator Cory Gardner, a former U.S. representative who entered the Senate in 2015, is among the most vulnerable Senate Republicans, in part because of his allegiance to Trump in a state that became Democrat in the last three presidential elections.
Democratic challenger John Hickenlooper, a former two-term governor and 2020 presidential candidate, had raised significantly more money than Gardner as the race entered its final weeks and held a popular voting margin of 7 percentage points, according to FiveThirtyEight.com.
GEORGIA
According to RealClearPolitics.com, first-term Republican Senator David Perdue, a wealthy businessman who touts himself as an ally of Trump, follows Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff by a tiny 1 percentage point margin, according to RealClearPolitics.com.
Ossoff, an investigative journalist and media executive, led a powerful campaign for a special election to the United States House of Representatives in 2017, but ultimately lost. Democrats believe he could oust Perdue, in part because of public aversion to Trump’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit Georgia hard.
Perdue is one of two Georgia Senate seats that could be settled by a January runoff if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote.
GEORGIA
In an electoral accident caused by the retirement of former Republican Senator Johnny Isakson, the two seats in the US Senate in Georgia are up for grabs on Tuesday.
Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, who was named as Isakson’s replacement last year, is running in a multi-party, multi-candidate “jungle primary” special election, featuring a powerful Republican opponent, Rep. Doug Collins .
The competition is generally expected to end in a second round in January. But as Loeffler and Collins battle for the Republican votes, Democrat Raphael Warnock leads the polls and had more money on hand than either Republican as the race entered its final weeks.
IOWA
A close fight between Republican Senator Joni Ernst and Democrat Theresa Greenfield appeared to tighten in favor of the Republican in the final days of the campaign. Ernst leads Greenfield, a city planner and real estate developer, averaging 2 percentage points, according to RealClearPolitics.com.
Greenfield accused Ernst of being a buffer for Trump and not taking the COVID-19 pandemic seriously enough. Ernst, who is lagging behind Greenfield for campaign money, has sought to use his role in U.S Supreme Court Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation to appeal to conservative voters .
KANSAS
Since 1932, a Democrat has failed to win a seat in the United States Senate in Kansas, one of the most trusted Republican states in the country. But this year, Democratic Senator Barbara Bollier and Republican Representative Roger Marshall are locked in a close race for the seat of retiring Republican Senator Pat Roberts.
Marshall leads Bollier with a popular vote margin of just over 5 percentage points, according to FiveThirtyEight.com, even though the Democrat has raised more than four times in campaign donations.
MAINE
Four-term Republican Senator Susan Collins, a New England moderate long known for her independence, has seen her popularity spread among voters amid criticism that she has not been a moderating force in the Senate for Trump’s presidency.
His Democratic challenger, Maine House of Representatives Speaker Sara Gideon, leads Collins in opinion polls and has massively over-raised money for the Republican. But the race has tightened in Collins’ favor in recent days and the contest could be forced into a series of ballots if no candidate holds more than 50% of the vote.
MONTANA
Republican Senator Steve Daines is neck and neck against two-term Governor Steve Bullock, a former presidential candidate who has presented himself as an independent-minded Democrat. Daines, a former congressman and software executive, is known as a reliable curator and has touted his ties to Trump.
Bullock was a late entry, jumping into the race in March. But he was able to raise funds quickly and is showing signs of holding a small lead over Daines in the home stretch.
NORTH CAROLINA
North Carolina has erupted in one of the country’s most dramatic Senate races, with Democrat Cal Cunningham’s candidacy sparked by a sex scandal after dominating the campaign for months.
Once among the Democratic Party’s strongest candidates for the Senate, Cunningham has seen his double-digit lead over Republican Senator Thom Tillis erode to single-digit. But it’s not clear whether a Trump-era sex scandal can completely overcome the wave of political polarization that has largely unfolded against Tillis so far.
CAROLINE FROM THE SOUTH
Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump’s closest allies in Congress, was last re-elected to the Senate in 2014 with over 55% of the vote. But this year, he’s favored to win only by a small margin against Democrat Jaime Harrison, who is leading a powerful campaign backed by staggering fundraising numbers.
Recent polls show Graham has a slight lead over Harrison, in part due to his role in overseeing Barrett’s confirmation. Once a Trump critic, Graham faces conservative skepticism about his recent conversion to Trump’s ally, while the loss of his former maverick character has disappointed moderates, analysts say.
DEMOCRATIC SEATS
ALABAMA
Senator Doug Jones, considered the most vulnerable Democrat in the Senate, won the election for the seat Republican Jeff Sessions vacated to become Trump’s attorney general in 2017. In a state normally considered safe for Republican candidates, Jones has beaten former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, whose campaign was scolded by allegations of sexual misconduct involving young women.
The Democrat now faces former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, a Republican who beat Sessions’ return attempt earlier this year. Tuberville saw his lead widen in the final weeks of the campaign, despite a more aggressive fundraiser from Jones.
MICHIGAN
Democratic Senator Gary Peters has a small lead over Republican challenger John James in a state that represents a major battleground for Trump’s re-election.
The race is tilting in Peters’ direction, analysts said. But James, a Michigan businessman, campaigned vigorously, raising hopes among Republicans that he could clinch a thwarted victory over the incumbent president on election day.
