PHOENIX (Reuters) – Democrats will hold onto control of the U.S. Senate after Senator Catherine Cortez Masto won re-election in Nevada, Edison Research projected on Saturday, handing a major victory to President Joe Biden.
Still, Republicans remained close to winning control of the U.S. House of Representatives as officials continued counting ballots cast in Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections.
Cortez Masto narrowly defeated Republican challenger Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
With Masto’s victory on the heels of Democratic Senator Mark Kelly winning re-election in Arizona late on Friday, Democrats will control at least 50 Senate seats, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break ties in the 100-member chamber.
The Senate is currently split 50-50 between Democrats and Republicans. The newly elected Senate will be sworn in on Jan. 3.
Continued control of the Senate means Democrats will still be able to approve Biden’s nominees such as federal judges. Should a vacancy open in the next two years, that would mean any appointees to the Supreme Court.
If Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock were to win the Dec. 6 Georgia runoff election against Republican challenger Herschel Walker, that would expand Democrats’ majority to 51-49. That would give Democrats an additional edge in passing the few bills that are able to advance with a simple majority of votes, instead of the 60 needed for most legislation.
It would also dilute the influence of Democratic Senators Joe Manchin in West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona, “swing” votes who have blocked or delayed some of Biden’s major initiatives, including expansions of some social programs.
It could take several days or more before the outcome of enough House races are known to determine which party will hold the majority in the 435-seat chamber. Republicans continued to have an edge, but returns were still flowing in for several races, including many in liberal-leaning California.
House Republicans, should they prevail, have pledged to try to roll back Biden victories on battling climate change and want to make permanent a series of 2017 tax cuts that will expire. They also have planned investigations into Biden administration activities and probes of the president’s son, who has had business dealings with Ukraine and China.
Democrats scored a significant upset on Saturday with a projected victory in Washington’s 3rd congressional district, where Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Trump-endorsed Joe Kent.
In Nevada, Democrat Cisco Aguilar won the race to be the state’s next secretary of state, the top election official. He defeated Jim Marchant, a Republican who supported Trump’s false claim that he lost the 2020 election to Biden because of voter fraud.