Polls are now closed in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., with control of the Senate remaining a toss-up. As of early Wednesday morning, Democrats secured 48 seats and the GOP had 47, with five races yet to be called, CBS News projects.
CBS News characterizes the races in Georgia and Nevada as toss-ups.
CBS News characterizes Arizona as leaning Democrat, while the Wisconsin race is leaning Republican.
Alaska, where three candidates are on the ballot, had not yet been called early Wednesday.
Among other battleground states, Republicans will win Florida, Ohio and North Carolina, while Democrats will win in Colorado, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, CBS News projects.
In each of the Senate battlegrounds where CBS News has conducted exit polls, voters said control of the Senate is important to their vote. CBS News conducted statewide surveys in 11 key battleground states: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
In each of these states, voters had negative views of the nation’s economy.
Right now, in most of the Senate battleground states, the issue of inflation is outpacing abortion in terms of the importance of the issue to voters. But in Pennsylvania’s closely-watched race, early exit polling shows abortion outpaces inflation as a concern for voters.
Nearly three in four voters were dissatisfied about the country as they headed to the polls Tuesday, according to early exit polling. That includes almost a third who said they were angry. Almost three-quarters said the economy is bad, and nearly half of voters said their family’s finances are worse than they were two years ago.
In Georgia’s Senate race, where Democrat Raphael Warnock is defending his seat against a challenge from Republican Herschel Walker, voters said the qualities voters are looking for are honesty and integrity, as well as a candidate who shares their values.
In Pennsylvania, the electorate was divided on whether Democrat John Fetterman is healthy enough to serve effectively as a U.S. senator. More voters expressed concern that Republican Mehmet Oz had not lived in the state long enough to serve effectively.
Thirty-five Senate seats were up for grabs in total in the 2022 midterm elections, but under a third were expected to be close.
