Democrats clinch Senate majority, sweeping five of seven battlegrounds with Republican incumbents [U.S. Midterm Elections]

[Financial News] Democrats are all but certain to secure an early Senate majority after sweeping the battlegrounds where races have been decided so far in the U.S. midterm elections.
As of midnight on the 3rd (Eastern Time), with 69.3% of the vote counted in Texas, Democratic candidate James Talarico was projected to defeat Republican candidate Ken Paxton (39.6%) with 58.8% of the vote and win a seat in the Senate.
Texas has not elected a Democratic senator since 1988. If Talarico clinches victory, President Donald Trump will also have suffered a significant political blow. Trump sidelined John Cornyn, the incumbent senator from the state, and picked the controversial Paxton as the Republican nominee.
With 92.1% of the vote counted in Kansas, Democratic candidate Adam Hamilton was projected to defeat incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall (45.5%), winning 51.5% of the vote. Kansas has not elected a Democratic senator since 1932.

If Talarico and Hamilton clinch victories, they are expected to go down as upsets in U.S. political history.
In battleground Ohio, with 88.6% of the vote counted, Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown was projected to defeat incumbent Republican Senator Jon Husted (46.4%), with 48.7% of the vote.
Ohio is where Vice President JD Vance, considered a potential future Republican presidential candidate, served as senator immediately before becoming vice president. President Donald Trump and Vice President Vance visited the state several times to shore up Ohio, but Republicans appear set to lose.
In another battleground, Iowa, with 92.7% of the vote counted, Democratic candidate Josh Turek was projected to defeat Republican candidate Ashley Hinson (46.2%), winning 50.7%.
In Maine, with 67.1% of the vote counted, CNN projected that Democratic candidate Troy Jackson, who had won 52.7%, would prevail. Incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins (47.2%) conceded defeat.
Democrats have thus swept all five of the seven states identified as battlegrounds late in the election where Republicans held the seats.
Democrats are also poised to flip North Carolina, where Roy Cooper was the candidate and the race had been viewed as favorable, as well as South Carolina (Annie Andrews), which some media outlets had considered a battleground. With all seven Republican-held seats flipped, Democrats are expected to secure a clear Senate majority with 53 seats.
The remaining two of the seven battlegrounds are expected to take longer to call.
In Michigan, where the incumbent is a Democrat, the race is extremely close with 44.0% of the vote counted: Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed has 49.5%, while Republican candidate Mike Rogers has 48.5%.
Alaska, where a controversy over “candidates with the same name” has erupted, has yet to finish voting.
In Nebraska, too, with 54.8% of the vote counted, the race remains tight between independent candidate Dan Osborn (47.5%) and incumbent Republican Senator Pete Ricketts (46.7%).
Democrats are projected to win Senate seats in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Virginia, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon and Minnesota.
Republicans are projected to win Senate seats in West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming.
[email protected] Lee Seok-woo, International Affairs Specialist Reporter