Democrat Maggie Hassan Declares Victory Over Incumbent NH Senator Kelly Ayotte

Even with New Hampshire as a pickup for Senate Democrats, Republicans preserved their majority in the upper chamber. Kelly Ayotte announced she had conceded the race to Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.

In a statement shortly after the secretary of state’s announcement, Ayotte said she spoke to Hassan to congratulate her.

According to an analysis at The Daily Beast, Trump can achieve 270 electoral votes if a win in New Hampshire is supplemented by wins in Florida, Ohio, Iowa, and North Carolina, in addition to winning all of the states that appear to be solidly Republican. With Ayotte’s loss (and after Louisiana’s December runoff), Republicans will nearly certainly hold a 52-48 Senate majority in the next Congress-a net loss of two seats for the GOP.

Republicans held other toss-up Senate contests in Pennsylvania, North Carolina Missouri and in, all states that Donald Trump carried.

A second recount resulted in Wyman ahead by just two votes, but at the request of Durkin, the U.S. Senate Committee on Rules and Administration stepped in to resolve the matter.

Democrats’ only pick-up so far came in IL, where GOP Sen.

Earlier this year, Ayotte and fellow Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin and Sen. Marco Rubio seemed to have a lead over Democratic Rep. Patrick Murphy, who was abandoned by his own party after Democratic bosses made a decision to pull ad money from expensive Florida and invest it in Missouri, North Carolina and in, instead.

Of course, to the surprise of many, Trump went on to win the presidency, declaring victory in a speech in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The other bright spot for Democrats was in Nevada, where Minority Leader Harry Reid’s retirement after five terms created a vacancy and the one Democratic-held seat that was closely contested.

Later in the day, with the New Hampshire secretary of state declaring Hassan the victor, Ayotte conceded. Senate President Chuck Morse couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The tight race between Republican U.S. Sen.

Like many Republicans, Ayotte has had difficulty grappling with the man at the top of the ticket. She cast herself as an independent, bipartisan senator while portraying Hassan as a rubber stamp for Democrats and a hypocrite for taking credit for a state budget she initially vetoed as governor.

In Florida, GOP Sen. When the polls close, Toomey added, “we will have determined the next senator and, probably, which party controls the United States Senate”. “I said I wouldn’t, but then I did”.