Roy Cooper has won a Republican-held Senate seat in North Carolina, according to media projections, as Democrats took the first races called on election night. Control of both chambers is still undecided.
Democrats have won the first Senate races called in the US midterm elections, including a Republican-held seat in North Carolina, as Americans delivered an early verdict on Donald Trump’s second term.
Former North Carolina governor Roy Cooper defeated Trump-backed Republican Michael Whatley, according to US media projections, giving Democrats a crucial gain in their push to take control of the Senate.
Democrats also held an open seat in New Hampshire, where Chris Pappas beat Republican John Sununu, and Senator Jon Ossoff was projected to win re-election in Georgia.
Control of Congress remains open, with dozens of close races still to be decided.
At the latest count, Democrats held 45 Senate seats and Republicans 35, including seats not up for election this year. In the House of Representatives, Democrats had won 80 seats and Republicans 32, out of 435.
Democrats need a net gain of four Senate seats and three House seats to win majorities in both chambers. After Cooper’s win, they still need to pick up three more Senate seats.
Democrats won the first nine of the 35 Senate seats contested on Tuesday, according to media projections.
Around four dozen House races were expected to be close. In a handful of key contests where most votes had been counted, Democrats were running neck and neck with Republicans even in districts Trump won by double digits in 2024.
Democrat Jamie Ager was projected to flip a Republican-held House seat in North Carolina.
Cooper, 69, served two terms as North Carolina’s governor, from 2017 to 2025. The state had not elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly 20 years. Full results are on the North Carolina State Board of Elections website.
He built a double-digit poll lead by focusing on the cost of living, with a blunt promise to “make stuff cost less”, and attacked Trump-backed healthcare cuts that he said were hurting North Carolinians.
Whatley, a former Republican National Committee chair who has never held elected office, campaigned alongside Trump. The president visited the state twice to back him and predicted in October that Whatley would defy the polls.
Cooper will replace Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who announced his retirement after breaking with Trump over Medicaid cuts in the president’s signature tax and spending law.
In New Hampshire, Pappas, a moderate member of the House, will succeed Democrat Jeanne Shaheen, who is retiring after 18 years in the Senate. Republicans had targeted the seat in their bid to keep their Senate majority.
High energy prices were a major issue in the state. Pappas blamed Trump and Republicans for the war with Iran, which has disrupted oil shipments and pushed up petrol and heating oil prices. Sununu, a former senator, argued that more domestic energy production would bring prices down.
“We step up, we roll up our sleeves and we make it happen. And that’s the spirit I’ll bring to my work in the United States Senate,” Pappas told supporters.
In Maine, Republican Senator Susan Collins faces perhaps her toughest re-election battle yet, with polls showing a close race against Democrat Troy Jackson.
“The results are going to take a while to come in,” Collins told supporters after polls closed. “We went all over the state and I’ve got to tell you the crowds were huge, the reception was warm.”
Trump is not on the ballot, but the elections are widely seen as a referendum on his presidency. Polls show his approval rating near its lowest level, weighed down by voter frustration over the war with Iran and the rise in fuel prices that followed.
Before polling day, polls and nonpartisan analysts had favoured Democrats to win the House, while the Senate was seen as more uncertain.
Voters are also electing 36 governors and deciding thousands of state legislative races and ballot measures.
Some polling stations ran out of paper ballots, causing long queues and leading some voters to leave without voting.
Shortages were reported in DeSoto County, Mississippi; Chicago; Dearborn, Michigan; Leavenworth County, Kansas; and Laurel, Maryland, where ballots were later replenished.