The Republican Party has retained its control of the Senate after scoring major victories in multiple battlegrounds on Tuesday, according to media reports.

Republicans picked up 51 seats including key states of North Carolina, Missouri, Indiana and Wisconsin, surpassing the seats needed to control the Senate and maintaining the current balance of power in the chamber, according to Politico.

For Republican candidates, whether they support presidential nominee Donald Trump has been a focal point of campaigns, especially in key battleground states. Democratic contests engaged in strategies to link Republicans to Trump and pounce on them for supporting the controversial presidential candidate. But even after they return to Washington, D.C. next year, they will likely face a fractured party: 85 percent of Republicans said the party is divided and 41 percent believe Trump’s candidacy has been bad for the party, according to a New York Times and CBS News poll.

Republican Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.) won a race in Indiana in a surprising 9.9-point margin against former Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.). The Real Clear Politics average polling data showed Young leading Bayh by a mere 0.7 points before Tuesday. Republicans also scored a victory in North Carolina, in which Republican incumbent Richard Burr (R-N.C.) won against Deborah Ross (D-N.C.).

In Pennsylvania, Republican incumbent Pat Toomey clinched a narrow victory over Democrat Katie McGinty (Pa.), winning by a slim margin of 1.5 points. Pennsylvania candidates and outside groups spent a record-breaking $118.5 million during the election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan website that tracks campaign finance. While Toomey outspent McGinty by more than two to one, the Democrat benefited from a torrent of outside group money.

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) unseated Republican incumbent Mark Kirk in a tight Illinois Senate race. Kirk previously urged Trump to withdraw from the race after leaked audio of Trump making lewd comment about women surfaced last month. But he also made what critics called a racist comment on Duckworth’s family heritage during a televised debate on Oct. 27 saying, “I’d forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.”

Former Republican presidential candidate and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) shook off Democratic challenger Patrick Murphy in the state of Florida.

Republicans retained their seats in South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, Alabama, Ohio, Iowa, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho, Utah and Arizona.

In addition to New York, where Democrat Chuck Schumer defeated Republican challenger Wendy Long by a landslide, Democrats carried Vermont, Connecticut, Maryland, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California and Hawaii.

Published on November 9, 2016 at 2:11 am

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