Republicans have recaptured the US Senate, achieving what was billed in advance as the most attainable goal for the party in this year’s elections.
The GOP regained control after it became clear that the Democrats had lost their one-seat majority in Congress’s 100-member upper chamber.
Republicans gained two Senate seats, as Trump-backed businessperson Bernie Moreno defeated three-term Democratic senator Sherrod Brown in Ohio, and Trump loyalist Jim Justice won the seat once held by Joe Manchin in West Virginia.
Republican incumbents also fought off Democratic challengers in Texas, where Ted Cruz defeated Collin Allred, and in Florida, where Rick Scott won out over Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
In Nebraska, union organizer Dan Osborn launched a surprisingly successful independent campaign to oust the Republican incumbent, Deb Fisher. But Fisher ultimately held on to her seat.
Shortly after midnight ET, several competitive Senate races still had not been called, giving Republicans a chance to grow the margin of their majority by a few more seats.
The result puts the Republican party in pole position in the confirmation process for senior officials appointed by the new incoming administration, and for potential new justices to the US supreme court if and when vacancies open up.
At least two veteran conservative justices, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, are expected to retire in the next few years, while speculation has surrounded the health and intentions of a third, Sonia Sotomayor, one of the court’s three liberal justices.
The transfer of Senate control back to the Republicans will also lend greater piquancy to the race to succeed Mitch McConnell, the GOP leader in the chamber, who had announced that he would retire after the election.
Leading contenders to replace him are John Thune of South Dakota, Texas senator John Cornyn and Rick Scott of Florida, with the winner primed to assume the powerful position of Senate majority leader.
Cornyn launched his bid for the leadership just moments after Republicans won their Senate majority, according to the Associated Press, with a statement touting his experience working with Republican members, and serving as the GOP vote-counter during the first Trump administration.
“As I’ve said, this election is not about us but rather what is best for the conference and the nation,” the Texas Republican said. “I look forward to working with President Trump and our new conservative majority to make America great again by making the Senate work again.”
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The leadership election is due to take place at the end of November by secret ballot.
The Republicans’ win had been widely anticipated, as the party needed to make a net gain of just one seat to regain control if Donald Trump recaptured the White House because – constitutionally – the vice-president is awarded the casting vote if the two parties are tied.
But the Democrats were also facing an unfavourable electoral map, with several incumbents either retiring or up for re-election in Republican stronghold states – meaning loss of Senate control was highly likely even in the event of Kamala Harris being elected president.
The retirement of the West Virginia senator Joe Manchin, a formerly centrist Democrat who had lately become an independent, was the clearest signal that the Republicans were on a winning path. As expected, the seat he vacated was won by the state’s Republican governor, Jim Justice, who triumphed over his Democratic opponent, Glenn Elliott, the mayor of Wheeling.
Read more of the Guardian’s 2024 US election coverage
