Polls have closed in 25 states and the District of Columbia, including the battleground Senate states of Georgia, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.
CBS News characterizes the races in Georgia, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire as toss-ups. Polls have also closed in Ohio and North Carolina, races that CBS News has characterized as lean Republican.
In Florida, CBS News projects Sen. Marco Rubio wins reelection over challenger Val Demings.
Control of the Senate remains a toss-up.
Voters have Senate control on their minds — 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, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin.
In each of these states, voters have 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.
The top issue overall that’s driving voters to the polls is inflation. This is particularly true among those who are voting Republican. Abortion comes in second, especially among those voting Democratic.
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 is divided on whether Democrat John Fetterman is healthy enough to serve effectively as a U.S. senator. Right now, there is also a bit more concern that Republican Mehmet Oz has not lived in the state long enough to serve effectively.
Thirty-five Senate seats are up for grabs in total in the 2022 midterm elections, but under a third are expected to be close. Control of the chamber will come down to the races in those battleground states, including Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
Historically, a president’s party tends to lose seats during midterm elections. Former President George W. Bush was the last president to see his party gain seats during a midterm election. That was in 2002, shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
