WASHINGTON — Republicans claimed the Senate majority Tuesday for the first time in eight years, riding President Barack Obama’s unpopularity to victories in every part of the country.
Republican challengers ousted Democratic senators in Arkansas, Colorado and North Carolina, and took seats from retiring Democrats in four other states.
Equally important, Republicans held off spirited challengers in Kentucky, Georgia and Kansas, guaranteeing they will control both chambers of Congress for Obama’s final two years in office.
In every contested race, Republicans tied their opponents to the president, whose fortunes have sagged since his re-election two years ago. Democrats tried to distance themselves from Obama without denouncing him.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who won a sixth term Tuesday, was almost assured of being elected by his colleagues as majority leader, a lifelong dream. His party can send piles of legislation to Obama’s desk — for his signature or veto — on topics such as health care, environmental regulations and dozens of other issues.
McConnell warned Obama of coming confrontations. “For too long, this administration has tried to tell the American people what’s good for them and then blame somebody else when their policies didn’t work out,” he told cheering fans.
The final Senate partisan breakdown won’t be known until Dec. 6, when Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana will face Republican Rep. Bill Cassidy in a runoff. But the GOP’s majority was assured, regardless who wins there.
A GOP-run Senate will be an aggravation to Obama and congressional Democrats, but it’s unclear how much it will change the government. Obama can veto bills, and Senate Democrats can use the filibuster to thwart scores of GOP initiatives, just as Republicans did to Democrats for years.
Republicans claimed a huge victory in Colorado, where GOP Rep. Cory Gardner ousted first-term Democrat Mark Udall.
In North Carolina, state House speaker Thom Tillis ousted first-term Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan. She had accused him of leading a conservative revolution that went too far in the centrist state. Obama carried North Carolina in 2008 and lost it in 2012.
In Arkansas, freshman Rep. Tom Cotton knocked off two-term Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor in a state that has veered sharply toward the GOP since native son Bill Clinton left office.
Cotton, an Iraq combat veteran and Harvard Law School graduate, linked Pryor with Obama in every campaign appearance.
Pryor, the last Democrat in Arkansas’ congressional delegation, is the son of a popular former governor and senator. But Arkansas and West Virginia have been trending Republican. Obama lost Arkansas by 24 percentage points in 2012.
As expected, GOP Rep. Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia won the seat of retiring Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller. Former Gov. Mike Rounds of South Dakota won retiring Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson’s seat. And GOP Rep. Steve Daines will succeed departing Sen. John Walsh in Montana.
A rare bright spot for Democrats was Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s victory in New Hampshire over Scott Brown, a former senator from Massachusetts.
