[Financial News] The early vote count in the midterm elections, which will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Congress, shows the opposition Democratic Party with the lead as counting proceeds smoothly. As of 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time on the 3rd, votes were being counted starting with Kentucky and Indiana, the first states to close their polls. According to the U.S. election-focused site Decision Desk HQ (DDHQ), at that point the Democrats had secured 90 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, while the Republican Party had secured 66. DDHQ projected a 100% chance that the Democrats would win and regain the House majority for the first time in four years. DDHQ also put the Democrats’ chances of winning 51 Senate seats and securing victory at 72%, compared with a 28% chance for the Republican Party. None of the seven battleground states that will determine the Senate race has been called yet, but the Democrats are also leading in those states. However, mail-in and early ballots—which are believed to include a large number of Democratic-leaning voters—are counted first, so it is too early to predict which party will win the Senate majority. A closer look at the Senate battlegrounds shows that in Ohio, with 35% of the vote counted, Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown is leading with 56.80% of the vote, ahead of Republican candidate Jon Husted, who has 39.72%. In Texas, with 30% of the vote counted, Democratic candidate James Talarico had received 56.87% of the vote, while Republican candidate Ken Paxton had (41.55%), trailing Talarico. Democratic candidates are also leading in other battleground states, including Kansas, Michigan and Maine, where less than 30% of the vote has been counted so far. Even excluding Iowa and Alaska, where counting has not yet begun, the party that wins four of the seven battleground states will secure the Senate majority. If the results hold this way, the Democrats will win. Moreover, in South Carolina, where polls before the election had shown the Republican Party with a slight lead, Democratic candidate Annie Andrews is currently ahead with 52.52% of the vote, compared with 45.95% for Republican Lindsey Graham, with 46% counted. NBC began announcing, one by one, the candidates it had projected to win in each area using its own forecasting system. NBC reported that its projections showed the following Senate candidates winning: Mark Warner (Democrat) in Virginia; Jon Ossoff (Democrat) in Georgia; Ed Markey (Democrat) in Massachusetts; Jack Reed (Democrat) in Rhode Island; Cory Booker (Democrat) in New Jersey; Juliana Stratton (Democrat) in Illinois; Chris Coons (Democrat) in Delaware; Chris Pappas (Democrat) in New Hampshire; Roy Cooper (Democrat) in North Carolina; Ashley Moody (Republican) in Florida; and Shelley Moore Capito (Republican) in West Virginia. In gubernatorial races, it projected wins for Josh Shapiro (Democrat) in Pennsylvania, Maura Healey (Democrat) in Massachusetts, Wes Moore (Democrat) in Maryland, J.B. Pritzker (Democrat) in Illinois, and Helena Foulkes (Democrat) in Rhode Island. [email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Correspondent Reporter