(The Center Square) – A win in Montana padded the GOP’s majority in the U.S. Senate.
Republicans will hold at least 52 seats in the upper chamber when the new Congress convenes in January to pick a leader.
The Republican-controlled Senate will be prepared to back President-elect Donald Trump’s agenda. The numbers in the Senate also could make Trump’s efforts to add conservatives to the federal judiciary easier because such appointments require Senate approval.
Republican Tim Sheehy defeated three-term incumbent Montana Sen. Jon Tester, padding the GOP’s control in the Senate. National news outlets called the race Wednesday morning. Sheehy is a retired Navy SEAL.
In West Virginia, Republican Jim Justice gave the party its first flip. Justice won the seat held by retiring Independent Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat until he left the party earlier this year to become an independent.
In Ohio, Cleveland car dealer Bernie Moreno ended Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s nearly two decades in the Senate in the nation’s most expensive Senate race in history.
Republicans flipped three seats in the 2024 general election, boosting Republican hopes for Trump’s next term and ending a Democratic majority for the first time in four years.
U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the party’s numbers in the Senate and House would lower consumer costs.
“America is undergoing a huge realignment, and the Republican Party is now a multi-ethnic, multi-racial coalition of hard-working Americans who love their country. Now it’s time to get to work and put the interests of Americans first,” he said. “I look forward to working with President-elect Trump, Vice President-elect Vance, and Republican majorities in Congress to secure the border, strengthen our communities, lower costs, and bring good jobs back to America.”
Rubio urged Democrats to “put aside their grievances and join us in doing what is right for our great country.”
