Washington (CNN) — Republicans have picked up another Senate seat and now need only three more to seize Senate control, according to a CNN projection.
Mike Rounds picked up a Democratic seat in South Dakota while in Arkansas, Iraq war veteran Tom Cotton grabbed the spot held by Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor. That built on an earlier pick up in West Virginia, where Republican Shelley Moore Capito won a seat that has been in Democratic hands for nearly 30 years.
CNN also projects Republicans will maintain their grip on the House of Representatives.
President Barack Obama, who has dragged down vulnerable Democrats with his tarnished approval ratings, now faces the strong prospect of a unified Republican opposition on Capitol Hill for the rest of his administration.
The President will make a public statement on Wednesday and host bipartisan leaders on Friday.
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In an early ominous sign for Democrats, Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, swiftly dispatched challenger Alison Lundergan Grimes in his re-election race. CNN projected the result as soon as polls were closed in Kentucky, in a dramatic early start to what could be a long Election Night.
“For too long, this administration has tried to tell the American people what is good for them and then blame somebody else when their policies didn’t work out,” McConnell said in a victory speech.
Tension in Florida
Meanwhile in Florida, tension is building around the tightly contested governor’s race. A judge denied a request from Democrat Charlie Crist to extend voting in Broward County by two hours because of several breakdowns in voting systems.
Crist is seeking to unseat Republican Gov. Rick Scott in one of the most competitive gubernatorial races in the country.
The battle for the key Senate races is also hotting up.
In Georgia, exit polls show that the race is on a knife-edge between Republican David Perdue and Democrat Michelle Nunn, who is looking to complicate the GOP’s path to a Senate victory by turning a red state blue.
In Virginia, meanwhile, incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Warner is having a tougher ride than expected against Republican challenger Ed Gillispie in a state Democrats had thought was reliably theirs after Obama won it twice.
No one had believed going into the election that the state would be in play.
In North Carolina, according to exit polls, Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan has a slim lead over Republican challenger Thom Tillis. A Hagan win, after the most expensive Senate race in history, would boost Democrats in a state shaping up as a genuine battleground in 2016.
Exit polls
The first wave of exit polls analyzed by CNN Tuesday evening show dissatisfaction with the President’s administration. Roughly six in ten voters are either angry or dissatisfied with Obama, though about the same proportion feel the same way about Republican leaders in Congress. And most voters have an unfavorable view of both parties.
The data also reveals a fearful electorate. Seven in ten voters are somewhat or very worried about a terrorist attack on US soil while 50 percent disapprove of the federal government’s response to the Ebola crisis.
Exit poll data also showed fierce contests in two of the closest Senate battles in North Carolina and Georgia.
READ: A viewer’s guide to the election
Problems at the polls
Voters cast their ballots Tuesday, November 4, at Manzanita Community School in Oakland, California. Millions of people nationwide are taking part in the 2014 midterm elections.
People vote inside the City Hall rotunda in San Jose, California.
A voter looks over his ballot at Fugate’s Bowling Alley in Hazard, Kentucky.
A woman votes at Su Nueva Laundromat in Chicago.
People in Los Angeles vote at a polling place set up in the playground of a McDonald’s.
Voters cast their ballots at First Class Barber Shop in Chicago.
People vote in a library near Ferguson, Missouri.
A voter exits the Valley Bible Chalet, which is a polling location in Indian, Alaska.
Voters cast their ballots at the Jamestown Town Hall in Jamestown, North Carolina.
People vote inside the Krishna Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah.
A voter casts his ballot at a polling place set up at the Venice Beach lifeguard headquarters in Los Angeles.
People vote in a gym at the St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Albany, New York.
A poll manager is sworn in before the polls open at the old Hoggards Mill Courthouse in Newton, Georgia.
A voter casts her ballot at a fire station in Climax, North Carolina.
People vote inside the Frontier-Harley Davidson store in Lincoln, Nebraska.
A woman votes at the Oakton Ice Arena in Park Ridge, Illinois.
Voters line up to cast their ballots in the gym at Northside Elementary School in Midway, Kentucky.
A bake sale is held outside Jefferson Elementary School, a polling place in Milwaukee.
A voter drops his election ballot at one of many drop boxes in Arvada, Colorado, a Denver suburb.
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Photos: The places America votes
There were some hiccups across the country as Americans went to the polls.
Some people in Alaska were voting by flashlight after a power outage and those in Maine had to cope with a winter storm that prompted a state of emergency. In Georgia, home to a competitive Senate and governor’s race, a state website listing polling locations went down though the secretary of state said there weren’t any voter irregularities there.
All eyes this evening will be on seats currently held by Democrats that Republicans need to capture to flip the Senate, including in Iowa, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Colorado and Alaska.
READ: Second guessing the avoid-Obama strategy
The fate of the Senate might not be clear until early into Wednesday morning. In Alaska, for example, where Democratic Sen. Mark Begich is in a tight race, polls will not close until 1 a.m. on the East Coast.
Close races
Runoff elections, meanwhile, will be needed in Georgia and Louisiana if no candidate gets to the 50% threshold. That means that if things remain tight, the fate of the Senate could be in limbo for weeks.
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The race in Iowa between Republican Joni Ernst and Democrat Bruce Braley will be tight. Still, recent polls suggested Ernst has a slight lead. Ernst was in her hotel room Tuesday evening working on a victory speech, according to a senior aide.
In Colorado, which like Iowa, Obama won twice, Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Udall is behind after apparently failing to define his GOP opponent, Cory Gardner, as an enemy of young women.
In New Hampshire, Democratic incumbent Jeanne Shaheen is in a dead heat with Republican challenger Scott Brown.
READ: How presidential contenders are spending Election Night
Republicans are also sweating the race in Kansas, where a stumbling re-election bid by Sen. Pat Roberts risks being overtaken by independent Greg Orman. Orman hasn’t said which party he would caucus with in Washington and his win could set the GOP back in its bid to win a majority.
But Republicans seized on a comment by Biden in a radio interview that Orman will “be with us,” prompting an Orman spokesman to tell CNN his boss had never even met the vice president, and would go to Washington as an Independent.
Beyond West Virginia and South Dakota, the Senate race in Montana is considered a Republican lock.
Governor’s race
Several key governor’s races are also being decided on Tuesday.
In Pennsylvania, Democrat Tom Wolf unseated Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in a marquee race. In Kansas, Gov. Sam Brownback is in danger of losing amid a backlash against his hard core conservatism. And liberal Massachusetts could elect a Republican governor.
CNN’s Magic Wall Midterms coverage
CNN’s Miguel Marquez, Pamela Brown, Nick Valencia, Paul Vercammen, Mary Kay Mallonnee and Ashley Killough contributed to this story.
Article source: http://www.freep.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/20/nbc-chris-christie-bridge-scandal/15950527/
Washington (CNN) -- Republicans have picked up another Senate seat and now need only three more to seize Senate control, according to a CNN projection.
Mike Rounds picked up a Democratic seat in South Dakota while in Arkansas, Iraq war veteran Tom Cotton grabbed the spot held by...
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