Senate control up for grabs as Democrats open up early leads in battleground Pennsylvania and Georgia

The Senate was hanging on a knife’s edge Tuesday night as Democrats opened up early leads powered by a huge edge in mail-in and early vote tallies in Pennsylvania and Georgia, along with several other battleground states.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans could claim victory as polls started closed across the country and vote-tallying continued slowly into the night in several swing states.

Democrats opened up big leads in battleground Pennsylvania and Georgia along with Ohio and North Carolina, where Republicans were favored.

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But the GOP came roaring back in the counts as Republican-heavy votes from Election Day started piling up, leaving the overall unclear.

Democrats need to keep 50 seats in the 100-member chamber because Vice President Kamala Harris can cast a tie-breaking vote, while the GOP would need to win 51 seats.

In Pennsylvania, Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman led Republican Mehmet Oz by a wide margin as the first batches of mail-in votes were counted, particularly from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

Georgia incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) also led Republican challenger Herschel Walker by a significant margin with mostly early voting ballots tabulated. If neither candidate wins 50%, the Georgia race will go to a Dec. 6 run-off.

The first closely watched Senate race of the night appeared to be poised to go to Democrats as incumbent Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) led Dan Bolduc, a far right-wing Republican who has said the 2020 election was stolen from former President Trump.

Hassan, who was once seen as ripe for an upset by Republicans, was outpacing the winning margin put up by President Biden in many towns, suggesting she will win, although it was still too early to call.

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In North Carolina, another perennial swing state, favorite Rep. Ted Budd (R-N.C.) held a smaller-than-expected lead over former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, who was vying to become the first Black woman to represent the state in the Senate.

Out West, Democrats say they are confident of holding onto the seat held by ex-astronaut Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), while Republicans believe they can topple first-term Sen. Catherine Cortez-Masto (D-Nevada).

In red-trending Ohio, where Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan took an early lead over Republican J.D. Vance, but most pundits still gave Vance the edge.

Florida appeared to be the brightest bright spot for the GOP, where Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) cruised to reelection amid a major GOP landslide in the Sunshine State.

In Wisconsin, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) was hoping to turn away a challenge from Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes.

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There was next to no tension for Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who was called the winner early over little-known GOP challenger Joe Pinion.

Despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent, the Senate math has changed little in months.

Democrats went into the race hoping to flip the seat held by retiring Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and hold serve in two out of the three swing seats of Georgia, Nevada and Arizona.

Republicans, on the other hand, want to keep Pennsylvania’s seat in their column and pick off one of the three other closely matched seats.

The party of a winning president typically loses dozens of seats in the House of Representatives in his first midterm election.

But history is considerably murkier when it comes to the Senate. Four years ago, Trump’s Republicans lost 40 House seats, but actually picked up two net seats in the Senate.