Democrats had a disappointing election night as Republicans defeated an onslaught of challengers and fought to retain their fragile majority.
“You wasted a lot of money,” said White House ally Sen. Lindsey Graham in Columbia, South Carolina, after defeating Jamie Harrison, despite the Democrat’s stunning $100 million haul for his upstart campaign. “This is the worst return on investment in the history of American politics.”
Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine won the hardest-fought race of her career, turning back a challenge by Democrat Sara Gideon and winning a narrow majority in the costliest political race in state history.
The outcome, announced on Wednesday, a day after voting ended, gave the 67-year-old incumbent a fifth term in office and dealt another blow to Democrats’ hopes for taking control of the GOP-led U.S. Senate.
STILL UNCALLED
Three Senate races had yet to be called as of Wednesday night, including Georgia, where two seats were being contested and at least one is headed to a runoff after no candidate reached the 50% threshold to win.
GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler will face Democrat Raphael Warnock, a Black pastor at the church where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. preached, in the Jan. 5 runoff special election for the seat Loeffler was tapped to fill for retired Sen. Johnny Isakson.
In the other Georgia race, GOP Sen. David Perdue, the former business executive Trump calls his favorite senator, tried to stave off Democrat Jon Ossoff, another candidate who has benefited from the “green wave” of campaign donations. It, too, could go to a runoff.
North Carolina and Alaska had yet to be called but Republican incumbents were leading with most votes counted.
DEMOCRATIC UPSETS:
Democrats did pick up must-win seats in Colorado and Arizona where John Hickenlooper defeated incumbent Republican Sen. Cory Gardner and former astronaut Mark Kelly defeated Republican Senator Martha McSally.
“It’s time for a different approach,” Hickenlooper, a former governor, said in a live video message posted on Facebook.
Mark Kelly, right, Arizona Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, waves to supporters along with his wife Gabrielle Giffords, second from right, and daughters, Claire Kelly, left, and Claudia Kelly, second from left, during an election night event Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020 in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Story by AP with information from CGTN.
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