US election 2020: Control of the Senate fades for Democrats

Washington, Nov 05: After underperforming in key states, the Democrats are losing hopes of gaining control of the US Senate.

The party had high hopes of gaining four necessary states in Congress' upper chamber. However several Republican incumbents held onto their seats. Controlling the Senate would have allowed the Democrats to push or obstruct the next President's agenda.

The Democrats are however projected to retain their majority in the lower chamber, the House, but with some crucial losses. However, the final outcome would be known later as many votes are still to be counted.

This year along with the battle for the White House, the Congressional battle is running alongside. The Democrats had hoped to turn around the 53-47 majority which is in favour of the Republicans. The majority would have given the Democrats the power to obstruct plans of a second term by Donald Trump or push through the agenda of first-term President, Joe Biden.

Out of the 35 Senate seats that were up for grabs, the Republicans held 23, while 12 went to the Democrats.

For the House of Representatives, the Democrats had gone into the election hoping to build on their 232-197 majority. Early returns however suggested that this may not happen after they lost 6 incumbents. Further, they also did not manage to claim any new Republican seats.