Senate Republicans picked up a Senate seat in West Virginia on Tuesday night, winning an expected victory that put them just one seat away from seizing control of the chamber from Democrats after four years.
Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia easily won the slot opened up by the retirement of Senator Joe Manchin III, who served most of his career in the Senate as a Democrat before becoming an independent earlier this year. The gain cut into the thin 51-to-49 majority held by Democrats and left Republicans within clear striking distance, though multiple races were yet to be decided.
In Indiana, Representative Jim Banks, a Republican and former leader of a House conservative faction, was easily elected to fill the vacancy left by the departure of Senator Mike Braun, who ran for governor and won. Mr. Banks was considered a rising star in the House but decided to try to join the Senate after he lost an internal G.O.P. election for a leadership post.
Senator Rick Scott of Florida, who is seeking to become the Republican Senate leader, was also re-elected, overcoming a Democratic challenge.
In Vermont, Senator Bernie Sanders, the 83-year-old independent and former presidential candidate aligned with Democrats, was elected to a fourth term.
Democrats were always going to be hard-pressed to hold on to their majority, since they were defending many seats in red and swing states. But they continued to hold out hope that they could prevail if they could run the table and defend their embattled incumbents in states beyond West Virginia or score an upset and knock off a Republican incumbent.
Much of the focus was on Ohio and Montana, two Democratic-held states that were carried by former President Donald J. Trump in 2016 and 2020.
In Ohio, Senator Sherrod Brown, a progressive Democrat with strong labor union ties, was trying to win a fourth term against the luxury car dealer Bernie Moreno. With every vote expected to count, Mr. Brown’s campaign on Tuesday evening put out a statement urging voters who were in line when the polls closed at 7:30 p.m. to stay in line and insist on voting.
Senator Jon Tester, Democrat of Montana, was considered even more endangered than Mr. Brown, running in a Western state that has grown increasingly Republican since he was first elected in 2006, one where Mr. Trump was expected to win handily. His Republican opponent was Tim Sheehy, a decorated former Navy Seal and businessman who has come under scrutiny for conflicting stories about how he received a bullet wound in his arm.
Both Mr. Tester and Mr. Brown were running well ahead of the party’s presidential ticket in their states, but the question was whether it would be enough.
Top Republicans were confident that they would pick up at least the two seats they needed to capture a majority but were hoping for more by potentially posting wins in other swing states such as Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan.
“I think we’re going to win Montana and West Virginia,” Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said early Tuesday on Fox News. “That would give us a majority, and I think we’re going to hang on to the seats that we currently have. So beyond that, it would be great if we could win some of these seats that are up for grabs. I think we’re in position to do that.”
Governor Justice, a former Democrat, was considered a shoo-in once he decided to jump in the race and Mr. Manchin announced he would not run.
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