By Geoff Earle and Marisa Schultz
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky,
joined by his wife, former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, celebrates with
his supporters at an election night party in Louisville.
Photo: AP
In an electoral blowout, the GOP wiped out the Democrats’ six-seat majority, taking down incumbents in Colorado, North Carolina and Arkansas.
Republicans also picked up open seats previously held by Democrats in Iowa, West Virginia, South Dakota and Montana.
Three GOP wins — in Colorado, Iowa and North Carolina — came in swing states where Democrats are competitive.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky secured a place as the next Senate majority leader after trouncing Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who at one time had been in her party’s top tier of candidates.
McConnell beat her by a lopsided margin of 56 to 41 percent, after running a campaign in which he succeeded in tying Grimes to unpopular President Barack Obama.
In a beaming victory speech, McConnell said the two parties didn’t have to be in “perpetual conflict.”
“I don’t expect the president to wake up tomorrow and view the world any differently than he did when he woke up this morning. He knows I won’t either,” McConnell said, igniting cheers.
“But look, we do have an obligation to work together on issues where we can agree.”
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One Democrat who survived the onslaught was Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of
New Hampshire, who turned back a challenge from former Massachusetts
Republican Sen. Scott Brown.
Newly elected US Sen. Cory Gardner celebrates with his wife, Jamie, at the Colorado Republican Party election night party.Photo: UPI
A Republican Senate will be able to kill Obama’s nominations and continue to stall his agenda while trying to force concessions.
There were still more bright spots for the GOP.
In Virginia, former Republican National Committee chair Ed Gillespie topped expectations and was barely losing to Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, with almost all of the votes in. With a losing margin of less than 1 percent, Gillespie could request a recount.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) was forced into a runoff with GOP Rep. Bill Cassidy, who has a wide lead in head-to-head polling. Ballots were still being counted in Alaska and other states with close Senate races.
With 22 GOP governors on the ballot, the party was bracing for some losses Tuesday. But Republicans seized governor’s mansions in the deep-blue states of Maryland, Massachusetts and even Illinois, Obama’s home state.
In another marquee race, conservative Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback withstood a tough Democratic challenge. Gov. Scott Walker hung on in Wisconsin, and first-term Florida Republican Gov. Rick Scott fended off a challenge from Charlie Crist, the former GOP governor who switched parties in an attempt to win back the seat.
Pennsylvania’s Republican Gov. Tom Corbett lost to Democrat Tom Wolf.
In the biggest early upset of the night, Colorado Republican Cory Gardner defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Udall. “Tonight we shook up the Senate,” Gardner told his supporters.
In Arkansas, despite a push by Bill and Hillary Clinton, Sen. Mark Pryor fell to Republican Tom Cotton.
Obama, nodding to the new political reality, summoned congressional leaders from both parties to the White House for a meeting Friday.
“This is all on the president, because if he reacts like President Clinton reacted [in 1994], then I think there’s a number of things that can be done,” said Dave Hoppe, a former top aide to GOP Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi. “If he reacts, however, the way he reacted after 2010, then I don’t know where you go.”
Reuters forecast Republicans would pad their House majority by several seats.
Even before the results were in, Obama was providing excuses for the Democratic rout by pointing to the political map that was advantageous to the GOP.
“It tends to be a little arbitrary which seats are really going to be contested, which aren’t,” Obama told NPR. “This is possibly the worst possible group of states for Democrats since Dwight Eisenhower. There are a lot of states that are being contested where they just tend to tilt Republican. And Democrats are competitive, but they tend to tilt that way.”
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