Opposition Republicans took three seats from Democrats in early returns for the U.S. Senate as they aimed to cut deeply into the Democrats’ majority, even if they fall short of winning control.
Conservative tea party politicians allied with the Republicans also scored wins -- and promised to fight programs dear to Democratic President Barack Obama by pushing for tax cuts and smaller government.
Indiana voters gave Republicans their first Senate pickup of the election, sending Dan Coats back to the chamber after a 12-year absence. Coats who spent a decade in the Senate before stepping down in 1998, defeated Democratic Rep. Brad Ellsworth.
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Coats was U.S. ambassador to Germany from 2001 to 2005. He won the seat being vacated by retiring Democrat Evan Bayh.
In Arkansas, meanwhile, Republican John Boozman defeated Democratic incumbent Blanche Lincoln, becoming only the second Republican from that state to serve in the Senate since the 1800s.
Lincoln, who supported Obama’s health care reform bill, had been considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents seeking re-election this year.
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In North Dakota, Gov. John Hoeven won the Senate race -- making him the first Republican from the state to hold that office in a quarter-century. Hoeven easily outpolled poorly funded Democrat Tracy Potter to replace retiring Democrat Byron Dorgan.
Two tea party champions won high-profile races, spearheading a likely cadre of libertarian-leaning Republicans who will press for lower taxes and smaller government.
Rand Paul of Kentucky and Marco Rubio of Florida rocked the Republican establishment last spring by routing leadership favourites in party primaries. Then they beat back Democrats’ efforts to paint them as too extreme. Rubio is the son of Cuban immigrants.
Another tea partier, Mike Lee, captured the Senate seat in Utah by beating a Democratic businessman. Tea party activists had helped Lee push out Republican Sen. Bob Bennett last spring at a Republican nominating convention.
However, another well-publicised tea party darling, Christine O’Donnell of Delaware, lost to Democrat Chris Coons. She also won a stunning primary victory, but she failed to extend her popularity to the broader November electorate.
In Ohio, Rob Portman won the Senate race, keeping a Republican in the seat that Sen. George Voinovich is vacating. Portman spent 12 years in the U.S. House starting in 1993. He later was budget director and then U.S. trade representative under President George W. Bush.
Easily winning re-election as expected were Republican Sens. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and Richard Shelby of Alabama. Democratic Sens Patrick Leahy of Vermont and Barbara Milkulski also won re-election.
If Republicans win 10 of the dozen Democratic seats in play, without losing any of their own, they will be the Senate’s new majority party. A nine-seat loss would produce a 50-50 tie that Vice President Joe Biden, the Senate’s official president, would break in the Democrats’ favour.