GOP Senate Pickups: 3 and Counting

At the begining of election night, the Republican Party needed
to pick up six seats in the United States Senate in order to take
control of the body from Democrats and turf out Harry Reid as
majority leader. With a Republican trend assumed from the
beginning, GOP gains so far are:

West Virginia

Shelley Moore Capito (R, pictured at right)
defeats Natalie Tennant (D) to turn this open West Virginia Senate
seat from blue to red. A member of the U.S. House of
Representativesince 2001, she was the first candidate of the
evening to bring the GOP’s goal a little closer.

Arkansas

Tom Cotton (R) takes the seat from Mark Pryor (D), the incumbent
since 2003 in this Senate seat. Pryor was the first incumbent
senator of the evening to be knocked off.

South Dakota

Mike Rounds becomes the third Republican pickup of the evening,
defeating two major candidates, Rick Weiland (D), and Larry
Pressler (I), a former Republican Senator running this year without
a party affiliation.

Seats still needed to gain control of the Senate: 3.