Excerpt
Democrats snatched Republican Senate seats in Indiana and Massachusetts on Tuesday, averted what was once considered a likely defeat in Missouri and held control of the Senate, handing Republicans a string of stinging defeats for the second campaign season in a row.
The final balance of power depended on the results of tight races in Montana, Nevada and North Dakota, but it was clear that Democrats would maintain a majority and could even add to the 53 seats that they and their independent allies control. Senate leaders declared that their strong showing must be a signal to Republicans to come to the table to deal with the nation’s intractable problems, including the “fiscal cliff” facing Congress in January.
“Now that the election is over, it’s time to put politics aside and work together to find solutions,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. “The strategy of obstruction, gridlock and delay was soundly rejected by the American people. Now they are looking to us for solutions.”
In Indiana, Representative Joe Donnelly did what had seemed impossible by taking a Senate seat for the Democrats in a heavily Republican state, just weeks after his opponent, State Treasurer Richard Mourdock, said conception by rape was God’s will.
In Wisconsin, Representative Tammy Baldwin became the first openly gay candidate to secure a Senate seat with her defeat of former Gov. Tommy Thompson, a Republican.
Senator Claire McCaskill of Missouri, a Democrat once considered the Senate’s most endangered incumbent, beat Representative Todd Akin, who seemingly sank his campaign when he said women who are victims of “legitimate rape” would not get pregnant.
In Massachusetts, Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard professor, swept from power Senator Scott P. Brown, a Republican whose surprise victory in January 2010 heralded the coming of the Tea Party wave. In Virginia, former Gov. Tim Kaine triumphed over another former governor, George Allen.
Those Democratic triumphs followed quick wins in Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania, all states where Republicans had harbored ambitions of victory that would propel them to a Senate majority for the first time since 2006.
Republicans lost another state when former Gov. Angus King Jr. of Maine, an independent, won his race to succeed Senator Olympia J. Snowe, a moderate who is retiring. Mr. King has yet to say which party he will caucus with next year, but he had warned Republicans and Democrats that his treatment during the campaign would bear on that decision. National Republicans and their “super PAC” allies responded by pummeling him with negative advertisements that did little to shake his lead.
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