BREAKING: Democrats Win Slew Of Key Senate Races, Clinch Control Of Chamber

Democrats are projected to take control of the Senate after Republicans suffered a string of defeats Tuesday in battleground states and longtime GOP strongholds.

NBC News projected Democrats would take control of the chamber, putting President Donald Trump's party on the defensive heading into the final stretch of his presidency.

The losses stretched well beyond the seats Republicans knew would be difficult to defend.

Texas, South Carolina, Ohio and North Carolina flipped to Democrats, according to election-night reporting from The Associated Press. Democrats also captured Republican-held seats in Kansas and Iowa, turning a difficult Republican night into a sweeping defeat across the Senate map.

Texas delivered among the most consequential blows.

Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton, capturing the seat held by outgoing GOP Sen. John Cornyn. Paxton had beaten Cornyn in the Republican primary, but failed to keep the seat in GOP hands in November.

The defeat gives Democrats a Senate foothold in a state that has repeatedly frustrated their efforts to win statewide.

South Carolina brought another major Republican setback. Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Sen. Darline Graham, who had been appointed after the death of her brother, longtime Sen. Lindsey Graham. The result flipped a seat Republicans had entered the campaign expecting to defend.

In Ohio, Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Sen. Jon Husted, returning to the Senate after losing his previous reelection bid. His victory added another Republican-held seat to the Democratic column.

Kansas supplied a breakthrough Democrats had failed to achieve for generations.

Adam Hamilton, a Methodist pastor, defeated GOP Sen. Roger Marshall, becoming the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Kansas since the Great Depression. Hamilton campaigned on affordability and reaching across party lines, while Trump and Vice President JD Vance traveled to the state to support Marshall.

In Iowa, Democratic state Rep. Josh Turek defeated Republican Rep. Ashley Hinson in the contest to replace retiring GOP Sen. Joni Ernst. The Washington Examiner reported that Turek's victory put Democrats over the threshold for a Senate majority.

Republicans also failed to offset those losses in states they had hoped to flip.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff defeated Republican Rep. Mike Collins, preserving a Democratic seat the GOP had viewed as a prime target. In New Hampshire, Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas beat former Republican Sen. John E. Sununu to succeed retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.

North Carolina had already delivered an early warning.

Former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman, to capture the open seat vacated by retiring GOP Sen. Thom Tillis. Cooper's statewide electoral record and established political operation helped Democrats convert a leading pickup opportunity into a victory.

The combined results left Republicans losing ground on both sides of their strategy: They surrendered seats they needed to protect and failed to capture Democratic seats that could have cushioned the damage.

The change in Senate control will give Democrats greater power over the legislative agenda and the confirmation process for Trump's judicial and executive branch nominees when the new Congress convenes.

Republicans went into the election fighting to preserve their governing majority. They emerged facing a Democratic Senate and a much harder path for the remainder of Trump's agenda.

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