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Former President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden in most polls in key swing states, but in many of those states’ pivotal Senate races, GOP candidates are lagging behind. An Emerson College-the Hill poll released on Tuesday shows Trump leading Biden in seven swing states, while in five of those states’ Senate races, the leading Republican candidate is behind the Democrat. In Pennsylvania, the former president holds a 47%-45% lead over Biden, but Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) holds a 46%-42% lead over GOP challenger David McCormick. The Senate race has narrowed in the Keystone State in recent months, according...

I stand by my prediction of 11 Republican pickups in the Senate. The Senate Seats now held by Democrats Tina Smith of Minnesota and Bob Menendez of New Jersey are quickly slipping away from both of them. In late spring the first signs that voters in New Jersey had had enough of crooked Democrats appeared when a survey with bizarre numbers was released. The poll showed Menendez ahead just 28/24 with an astounding 46% undecided. This said lots of things about the mood of the voters in New Jersey and none of them were good for Menendez. As a two-term...

Since demographic survey data indicating disaster for Senate Democrats is coming almost daily; and contradictory “polls” are coming in just as fast, a look at voter fundamentals is in order. I stand by my prediction of 11 Democrat seats being picked up by Republicans in November. So far here is where we stand. November’s Democrat sure losers are: Nelson Fla; Donnelly Indiana; McCaskill Missouri; Tester Montana; Heitkamp North Dakota and Manchin West Virginia. I have explained why they are going to lose before and nothing has improved for them. To the contrary things have gotten worse for each of these...

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Republican Dan Sullivan won Alaska's U.S. Senate race, defeating first-term incumbent Democrat Mark Begich. Sullivan led Begich by about 8,100 votes on Election Night last week and held a comparable edge after election workers had counted about 20,000 absentee, early-voted and questioned ballots late Tuesday. Thousands more ballots remained to be counted, but the results indicated that Begich could not overcome Sullivan's lead. The Alaska seat was initially considered key to the Republicans' hopes of taking control of the U.S. Senate, but that goal was accomplished before the Alaska race was decided. Sullivan, in a statement,...

Looking back on the 2014 election cycle, I see two largely unnoticed turning points that worked against Democrats and in Republicans' favor. The first came in response to the October 2013 government shutdown. This was blamed, as shutdowns usually are, on Republicans, partly because of their skepticism about big government, and partly because media professionals tend to fault the GOP in any partisan fight. The shutdown occurred because about 40 Republican House members refused to support a continuing resolution funding the government without a proviso defunding Obamacare. Texas freshman Sen. Ted Cruz had been barnstorming the country arguing that this...

Candy and I enjoyed a double date with Bill and Laura Cassidy tonight at Ye Olde College Inn in New Orleans. Thanks to the Blancher family for hosting us and to Jimmy and the staff for a great New Orleans meal! Congressman Cassidy and I had a positive discussion concerning our shared love for our country and for Louisiana. We also spoke about important points of public policy including the ongoing situation in Bayou Corne, the REDEEM Act, and Sen. Lee's Conservative Reform Agenda... I even encouraged Bill to take a look at our Contract with Louisiana and to hop...

-- Republican Ed Gillespie conceded the Virginia Senate race Friday to incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Warner. Gillespie said at a Friday afternoon news conference that he had called Warner "congratulating him on his re-election" in a race that turned out to be one of the midterm election's biggest surprises. Polls had shown Warner, a popular former governor who'd been endorsed by his Republican predecessor, ex-Sen. John Warner, with a hefty lead. But Gillespie led Warner for much of the night as returns trickled in Tuesday -- and ultimately ended up trailing by less than one percentage point. Get ready: 2016...

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) hopes to confirm 50 of President Obama’s nominees and move an omnibus spending bill in a last hurrah before Democrats give up power in the Senate. The nominees are part of a packed lame-duck schedule that Reid is furiously planning, and that will be a topic at Friday’s White House lunch meeting between Obama and congressional leaders. Reid also wants to move a package of expiring tax provisions, the annual Defense Department authorization bill and an extension of a tax moratorium on Internet purchases in the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas. That will be...

Only 10 Senate Democrats are up for re-election in 2016, the residual benefit of the shellacking they took in 2010 when tea party Republicans swept into office. The only two challenges Democrats likely will face will be defending Michael Bennet's seat in Colorado and Reid's in Nevada. In a presidential year, Bennet, who managed to survive in 2010, will be the favorite. Reid may be the most vulnerable, but he is a tenacious campaigner and in the past pulled off re-election in the face of stiff odds.

The results of the midterm elections are not yet fully known, but it is safe to say at this point that Republicans won a historic victory. As of this writing, the Republicans have won a 52-seat Senate majority outright. Republican candidates are expected to take seats in Alaska and Louisiana, resulting no less than a 54-seat Senate majority in the 115th Congress. NBC News projects that the GOP will hold a 250-seat majority in the next Congress, among the largest Republican majorities in generations. On the gubernatorial level, where Republicans were expected to lose ground, the GOP defied expectations...

Republicans picked up another Senate seat Wednesday.Dan Sullivan led Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, by more than 8,000 votes with 100 percent reporting, according to Associated Press data.The outcome obliterated any last hope among Democrats for a silver lining to Tuesday's Republican wave, and capped a banner Election Day for the GOP.

Nebraska voters have overwhelmingly elected Republican Ben Sasse to the U.S. Senate over Democrat David Domina. Sasse easily won election Tuesday, replacing Republican Mike Johanns, who didn't seek re-election. Sasse is president of Midland University in Fremont and previously worked in the U.S. Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services....

Fox news just called it for Cory Gardner over Mark Udall in Colorado..

Fox News projects that Republicans are making another two pick-ups in the battle for the Senate. This brings their total so far to five, with just six needed to take control of the Senate. In Montana, Republican Steve Daines is projected to defeat Democrat Amanda Curtis, flipping control of the seat to the Republican Party for the first time since 1913. In Colorado, GOP Rep. Cory Gardner is projected to oust first-term Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, one of the most closely watched contests in this election cycle Republicans have picked up three Senate seats, Fox News projects, bringing them halfway...

Also, results at Politico.... with 70 % county reports, including 50% totals in Dekalb and Fulton (heavy democrat), we have Perdue at 57% and Nunn at 41%. (997,236 for Perdue, 720,071 for Nunn) I expect it to tighten, but it has been 57% to 41% all evening, and with the 50% reporting-in of two heavy liberal enclaves, I would have expected a much more tight race. I'm starting to think Perdue will win without needing a runoff. Governor results are very similar.

REPUBLICANS WIN SENATE!

Salem Radio news coverage reports AP calls it for Tillis in NC.

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - With more than 98 percent of precincts reporting, Mark Warner now leads Ed Gillespie in the U.S. Senate race in Virginia. Gillespie, the Republican challenger led Warner, the incumbent Democrat, for most of the evening. As some of the last votes are being counted, Warner now leads by around 2,500 votes with more than two million counted, so far. Libertarian Robert Sarvis holds 2.7 percent of the vote. At last count, 98.59 percent of precincts were reporting and Warner led by 0.11 percent.

Chuck Burton - AP Republican Senate candidate Thom Tillis, left, greeted a voter at a polling place in Charlotte Tuesday. Tillis, the N.C. House Speaker, is running against Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton) Store Republican Thom Tillis clinched a narrow victory over incumbent Democrat Kay Hagan in North Carolina’s bitter U.S. Senate race. With nearly 98 percent of precincts in, Tillis had 48.95 percent to Hagan’s 47.14 percent. Libertarian Sean Haugh fielded about 4 percent. Tillis, from Huntersville, held a 50,000-vote lead with some votes from Mecklenburg and other urban counties still out. But several new organizations declared...

The Louisiana Senate race is heading into a December run-off as no candidate was able to secure 50 percent of the vote. Based on preliminary exit polls, ABC News projected Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., will face-off against Rep Bill Cassidy, R-La., in the run-off. Campaign committees and outside groups have already reserved airtime ahead of an expected run-off. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has set aside $3.3 million to run ads in the month ahead of the December run-off. The Koch-backed group FreedoM Partners has also reserved $2.1 million in television advertisement time ahead of an anticipated run-off in the...