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Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) greets a voter at Madbury Town Hall on Tuesday in Madbury, N.H. Shaheen retained her seat Tuesday from opponent Scott Brown. Darren McCollester/Getty Images hide caption

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) greets a voter at Madbury Town Hall on Tuesday in Madbury, N.H. Shaheen retained her seat Tuesday from opponent Scott Brown.

This story was updated at 9:24 p.m. ET

Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell has easily won a sixth term in the U.S. Senate, but he'll have to wait a while longer to learn whether he's in line to become the majority leader next year.

Republican Rep. Tom Cotton defeated Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor in Arkansas, which, combined with GOP Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's win in West Virginia and expected Republican wins in open seats in South Dakota and Montana, would leave McConnell just two shy of the six he needs for Republican control.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell departs after voting in midterm elections with his wife, Elaine Chao, at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images hide caption

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell departs after voting in midterm elections with his wife, Elaine Chao, at Bellarmine University in Louisville, Ky.

But one seat Republicans had pushed hard for late was New Hampshire, where incumbent Jeanne Shaheen beat back a strong challenge from from Republican Scott Brown, who most recently was a Republican senator from Massachusetts.

McConnell defeated challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes by a wide margin. The race opened for McConnell, 72, in the final weeks of the campaign, as he emphasized his clout in the Senate. Grimes, Kentucky's secretary of state, had tried to portray her opponent as a Washington insider who'd grown out of touch with the state. But Grimes suffered after she refused to say whether she had voted for the current president, Barack Obama, a misstep that drew national attention.

At his victory party, McConnell thanked supporters and adopted a measured tone, saying he and the White House "have an obligation to work together on issues where we can agree."

Original post:
Republican Cotton Wins Ark.; Dem Shaheen Holds New Hampshire

After years of anti-Bush and pro-Obama surges, Republicans began to recapture Senate seats in traditionally red states Tuesday as part of what analysts said is a swing toward what should be a natural GOP majority in the upper chamber of Congress.

Although messaging and money mattered, the general tilt of the election was defined early by the number of GOP-leaning states. The only question was whether Republicans would gain enough to win at least 51 seats, or a majority, in the Senate.

Were seeing the inevitable, irresistible drive of statistics to find its settling point, and these states are reverting back to what they are: Republican states electing statewide Republican officials, said Michael McKenna, a Republican strategist who has tracked Senate trends.

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Indeed, that was exactly what some voters said they were doing when they went to the polls in places such as West Virginia and South Dakota, which shook off longtime Democratic senators and embraced Republicans in what was a calculated party recalibration.

In the last presidential race, West Virginia was a red state. I think we should also have a red senator, Rikki Twyford, 35, said as she cast her ballot in Charles Town for the Republican nominee, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito.

West Virginia has been trending Republican for more than a decade and voted Republican in every presidential election since 2000, but both of its U.S. senators were Democrats.

One of those, Sen. Joe Manchin III, is the most conservative in the Senate. The other, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, is surrendering his seat after 30 years, and Democrats put up only token opposition.

Louisiana and Arkansas are also in the midst of a Republican transformation, trailing other Southern states by a decade or so.

But Merle Black, a political scientist at Emory University, said Republicans shouldnt count on a presumptive majority.

Originally posted here:
Republican Senate wins in red states reflect a natural recalibration

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