Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters at the Capitol Wednesday morning that he is “feeling good” after Democrats won retiring Sen. Pat Toomey’s (R) seat in Pennsylvania, giving them a better chance of keeping their Senate majority.
Schumer kept his remarks brief and stopped well short of celebrating after Senate Democrats exceeded expectations on Election night by winning in Pennsylvania despite Lt. Gov. John Fetterman’s (D) shaky debate performance and tens of millions of dollars in Republican spending on attack ads.
As things now stand, Democrats control 48 Senate seats and Republicans control 49.
Democrats could keep control of the majority in an evenly divided Senate, as Vice President Harris has the power to cast tiebreaking votes.
While the win in Pennsylvania makes it more likely that Schumer will serve another term as majority leader, the battle for control of the Senate is still far from decided, with ballots in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada still being counted.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D) is leading his Republican challenger Blake Masters in Arizona by nearly 90,000 votes with 68 percent of the votes counted, while Republican challenger Adam Laxalt is leading Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D) in Nevada by 23,000 votes with 75 percent of the votes counted.
In Nevada, there are approximately 100,000 votes from Clark County, a Democratic stronghold, yet to be counted, giving Cortez Masto a chance of coming back in the count.
In Georgia, Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) is leading Republican Herschel Walker by less than a percentage point or 35,000 votes with 95 percent of the vote counted, but the race will go to a Dec. 6 runoff if Warnock doesn’t win more than 50 percent of the vote.