‘Not a Republican wave’: Battle for Congress continues in close races
WASHINGTON — The battle for Congress continues to rage as Republicans were unable to strike a decisive early victory in Tuesday’smidterm elections, with key Senate races too close to call and control of the House still unknown.
Republicans may still get the electoral win out-of-power parties have historically enjoyed in midterm elections, but had to less to cheer about than they had hoped outside of Florida, where NBC News projects Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio cruised to re-election over well-known and well-funded Democrats and turned Miami-Dade county red.
"Definitely not a Republican wave, that is for darn sure," South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said on NBC News. "A wave would have been like [winning] New Hampshire and Colorado.”
President Joe Biden’s Democrats are trying to limit their losses and were buoyed by early wins for vulnerable Democrats like Virginia Rep. Abigail Spanberger and New Hampshire Sen. Maggie Hassan in some of the most competitive races in the country.
Republican J.D. Vance defeated Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in Ohio and Republican Ted Budd won in North Carolina, despite being outspent by more than two-to-one, keeping both Senate seats in GOP hands, NBC News projects.
Senate races in Georgia, Wisconsin and North Carolina are too close to call, NBC News projects. Too early to call races include Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, where Democrat Josh Shapiro won the governorship.
Republicans need to net five seats to retake the House while they need to net only one to flip the Senate.
Two of Democrats' biggest national stars lost gubernatorial races. Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams lost her second campaign against Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, NBC News projects. And Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott defeated Democrat Beto O’Rourke, handing the former congressman his third electoral loss in a row after he ran for Senate, president and then governor.
Just 19% of voters expressed strong approval for Biden, compared to the 31% former President Donald Trump enjoyed in the 2018 midterm, despite Republicans suffering major losses that year.
It may take days to know final results in some of the nation's most high-profile and competitive Senate races.
Several Republican senators in non-competitive races have also won re-election, NBC News projects, including Sens. Todd Young, of Indiana; Rand Paul, of Kentucky; John Boozman, of Arkansas; and Tim Scott, of South Carolina. Republican Katie Britt won the Alabama Senate race, becoming the first woman elected to the upper chamber from the state.
In Vermont, Rep. Peter Welch, a Democrat, won an open Senate seat that had been previously held by a member of his party and Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen won re-election, NBC News projects.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com