Roy Cooper takes a Senate seat from Republicans in North Carolina as Democrats hold their strongholds
Democrat Roy Cooper won in North Carolina and took a United States Senate seat from the Republicans, in the first major move of Tuesday night's election, according to projections released by The Associated Press (AP).
The victory makes North Carolina the Democrats' first gain of the night and marks the first time since 2008 that the party has won a Senate seat in that state, a territory considered strategic for the balance of power in Washington.
As of 9:56 p.m., AP data put Democrats at 43 seats against 33 for Republicans among the Senate seats already projected. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to take the majority, which Republicans held with 53 seats before the election.
The night also confirmed Democrats holding their strongholds: in New Jersey, Senator Cory Booker won re-election to a third full term, with 1,212,310 votes according to AP and 60.25% of precincts reporting. Also projected as winners were Jon Ossoff in Georgia, Chris Pappas in New Hampshire, Mark Warner in Virginia, Ed Markey in Massachusetts, Jack Reed in Rhode Island and Chris Coons in Delaware.
On the Republican side, Senator Ashley Moody held her seat in Florida against Democrat Angie Nixon, preserving a territory that remains one of the country's main conservative strongholds.
In the House of Representatives the picture remained much more open: with only 77 of the 435 seats projected by AP, Democrats held 52 seats against 25 for Republicans, and 218 are needed for a majority. These are projections made during the count, not official results, and the final composition could take several hours, or even days, to be settled.
Photo: Archivo A Lo Claro