Democrats Flip North Carolina and Hold Georgia and New Hampshire as Early Results Boost Their Hopes of Retaking Congress

WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (TodayViralUSA) — Democrats captured a Republican-held Senate seat in North Carolina and held on to closely watched seats in Georgia and New Hampshire on Tuesday night, early victories that strengthened the party’s hopes of taking control of Congress from President Donald Trump’s Republicans in the midterm elections. With millions of votes still uncounted, control of both chambers remained undecided as of about 9:15 p.m. Eastern time.

Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper defeated Trump-backed Republican Michael Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chairman, in the race for the seat left open by retiring Sen. Thom Tillis, according to media projections. The win gives Democrats one of the four net pickups they need for a Senate majority. Republicans entered the night holding a 53-47 edge.

Ossoff and Pappas hold the line

In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff won re-election over Republican Rep. Mike Collins, CBS News projected. Ossoff, 39, was the only Democratic senator seeking re-election in a state Trump carried in 2024, and the race had long been seen as one of the GOP’s best pickup chances.

In New Hampshire, Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas defeated former Republican Sen. John Sununu for the seat being vacated by retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Sununu conceded in Manchester, telling supporters, “This has been an incredible campaign, but it is not our night,” and saying he had called Pappas to congratulate him.

Republicans posted expected wins of their own. Sen. Ashley Moody won Florida’s special election to finish the term of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito was re-elected in West Virginia, and Rep. Harriet Hageman won the open seat in Wyoming, according to CBS News projections.

South Carolina in play

One of the night’s biggest surprises was unfolding in South Carolina, where CBS News rated the Senate race as leaning toward Democrat Annie Andrews, who was leading Republican Sen. Darline Graham. No Democrat has won a Senate race in the state since Fritz Hollings in 1998.

Polls closed at 9 p.m. Eastern in more than a dozen additional states, including the Senate battlegrounds of Texas, Iowa, Michigan and Kansas. Contests in Maine, Ohio and Alaska were also expected to help decide the majority.

Early signs in the House

Democrats need a net gain of three seats to win the House, where Republicans have held control since 2023. The party showed unexpected strength in several Republican-leaning districts in Florida, Reuters reported. Reps. Kathy Castor and Jared Moskowitz held seats that Florida’s GOP-led legislature had redrawn to favor Republicans, and Democrat Pia Dandiya was projected to win the redrawn 22nd District, CBS News said. Democrat Jamie Ager won an open seat in North Carolina’s 11th District, a pickup for his party, according to Politico, while Republicans held Florida’s 16th District.

Politico’s analysis of 42 counties in Florida, Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana with nearly complete results found that 17 had swung more than 5 points toward Democrats compared with past results. The New York Times’ live forecast gave Democrats about a 95% chance of winning the House at one point in the evening.

Voters sour on the economy

Early exit polls showed Trump’s job approval underwater in nearly all of the Senate battleground states, including some he won by double digits in 2024, and more voters in those states said their finances had gotten worse rather than better, CBS News reported. Affordability, tariffs and the war with Iran dominated the campaign.

The Justice Department deployed 1,000 election monitors and observers to all 50 states, which it called the largest Election Day monitoring effort in history. Election officials in several states reported no problems, though New Mexico’s secretary of state’s office said it had received reports of federal monitors asking “unusual questions” in one county, Reuters reported.

Results in many competitive races, particularly in Western states that count mail ballots over several days, may not be known until later in the week.