The Republican Party is projected to win back a majority in the US Senate, ensuring Donald Trump’s party will control at least one chamber of Congress, while the House of Representatives remains up in the air.
In the , Americans were not only voting for a president and vice president — but also senators, members of the House of Representatives and state governors.
All 435 seats in the House and 34 in the Senate — the two chambers of Congress — were up for grabs, and the results will determine how successfully the next president, Trump or Democrat Kamala Harris, will be able to govern.
Who will control the Senate?
As polls closed across much of the country by Wednesday afternoon Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT), the Associated Press projected Republicans had reached a majority in the Senate.
AP called re-election for Republican Deb Fischer, to represent Nebraska, taking the party’s tally to 51 seats, over the Democrats’ 42. At the time of writing, seven are still to be counted.
At least 51 seats are needed for a majority in the Senate.
Republicans earlier locked up the Senate race in Texas, with AP projecting re-election for Ted Cruz over Democrat Colin Allred.
This means the party would retake control of the chamber for the first time in four years.
Republicans would be able to help Trump appoint conservative judges and other government figures if he wins the presidential race, or to block the agenda of Democratic candidate Harris should she be victorious.
With many battleground races yet to be decided, Republicans could still widen their majority in the Senate. However, the party’s power would also depend on the results of the presidential and House races.
What about the House of Representatives?
Control of the House, which Republicans currently control by a narrow 220-212 majority, remains up for grabs.
As of 8:50pm Wednesday AEDT, AP had projected 196 seats for Republicans and 176 for Democrats. A party must win 218 to control the chamber.
According to AP, the House race so far has offered few surprises.
Republicans have picked up a few seats from Democrats in North Carolina, where they had redrawn district lines, while Democrats flipped a competitive seat in New York along with a redistricted seat in Alabama.
Both the Senate and House of Representatives races have offered some history-making moments, including Sarah McBride, a Delaware state senator, becoming .
— With additional reporting by the Associated Press and Reuters.
