American elections: who will get the majority in the Senate? These candidates have surprisingly won

Simultaneously with the presidential election, one third of the 100 seats in the Senate will be assigned. The choice is almost as important. Because if the party that provides the president doesn’t get a majority, it can’t pass many laws. And the elections brought some surprise winners.

For example, Republican Susan Collins secured her spot for the US state of Maine, though she was behind in all polls. Electoral observers actually assumed their zigzag path on Donald Trump could cost them votes.

Sometimes he criticized Trump, sometimes he protected him

Collins is a moderate Republican and has been cautiously criticizing the incumbent president in recent months. The 67-year-old spoke out against swift confirmation by Trump-appointed constitutional judge Amy Coney Barrett ahead of the presidential and congressional elections.

The president then repeatedly attacked the senator. Two years ago, however, Collins accepted the appeal of controversial judge Brett Kavanaugh and sided with Trump in the impeachment proceedings.

Former astronaut Mark Kelly became the Democratic surprise winner. He won a Senate seat in the traditionally republican state of Arizona. Fun Fact: Along with his brother Scott, Kelly is the only identical pair of twin astronauts to date, who helped science make surprising discoveries.

Republicans are expected to retain a majority in the Senate

Democrat Sarah McBride was elected first transgender senator. It now represents the US state of Delaware. He hopes the election will prove to transgender children “that our democracy is big enough for them too,” he tweeted about his election victory.

However, there were also several shock absorbers for the Democrats. They failed to defeat Republican senators in some contests that polls deemed close:

• So Democrat Jamie Harrison could not prevail against the former head of the judicial commission Lindsey Graham.

• Republican Mitch McConnell also defended his seat: the Democrats had sent former driver Amy McGrath, 45, to race against McConnell, 78, with large funds in the state of Kentucky. In vain.

• As expected, the Democrats lost the Senate seat in Alabama. Democratic Senator Doug Jones was beaten by former American football manager Tommy Tuberville, who ran for the Republicans.

The Democrats actually planned to get a majority in the Senate. They currently have 45 votes. However, according to current projections, Republicans are likely to retain the majority. Even if Democrat Joe Biden became president, he would therefore be unlikely to be able to implement his major reform plans.

Notably, current Senate leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, thwarted many projects during Barack Obama’s tenure after the Democrats lost a majority in the Senate in 2014.