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Democrats win the House while Republicans keep the Senate

The long-awaited 2018 midterm elections came to a head Tuesday when citizens across the United States got their first real chance to voice how they felt about the direction the country has been heading since Donald Trump’s election in 2016.

The Democrats were largely projected to retake the House of Representatives, and the Republicans were largely expected to gain seats in the Senate, and that is what is projected to happen at press time. Nationwide, it is projected the Democrats will win control of the U.S. House of Representatives, but Republicans will keep control of the Senate.

Republican Bill Lee defeated Democratic candidate Karl Dean in Tennessee’s gubernatorial race, and Republican Marsha Blackburn beat Democrat Phil Bredesen in the state’s U.S. Senate election.

The major elections in Tennessee were called before any votes from Shelby County or Davidson County, which contain the two largest population centers in the state, were added to the statewide totals. In Shelby County, Lee won 97,831 votes to Dean’s 156,270 at press time, and Blackburn received 88,684 votes to Bredesen’s 170,137 at press time. Blackburn will be the first female Senator to represent the state in the U.S. Senate.

Outgoing Senator Bob Corker congratulated Lee and Blackburn on Tuesday for their “hard fought victories.”

“As I shared with both of them privately, it has been the greatest privilege of my life to represent the people of Tennessee in the United States Senate, and I am committed to doing all I can to help both of them succeed in the days, months and years ahead,” Corker said in a statement he shared on Twitter.

Democratic incumbent Steve Cohen beat Republican Charlotte Bergmann in Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District with almost 80 percent of the vote at press time. Cohen received 128,435 votes to Bergmann’s 31,194 at press time. Republican David Kustoff defeated Democrat Erika Pearson in Tennessee’s Eighth Congressional District with almost 68 percent of the vote. Kustoff won 162,799 votes to Pearson’s 71,505 at press time.

Tennessee’s Congressional delegation will remain the same heading into the 116th session of the U.S. Congress with seven Republicans and two Democrats in the House and two Republicans in the Senate.

All referenda in Memphis failed. This means City Council members will remain limited to serving two terms, and instant runoff voting will remain in effect. 

A special election in Mississippi will advance to a runoff between Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, who was appointed to replace Thad Cochran after he retired because of health issues, and Democrat Mike Espy that will take place Nov. 27. They both received about 41 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s primary election.

Democrat Angie Craig, a graduate of the University of Memphis and a former Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Helmsman, was elected to the House of Representatives representing Minnesota’s Second Congressional District on Tuesday.

Democrat Beto O’Rourke came close to beating Ted Cruz in  a tight Senate race in Texas, but O’Rourke ultimately fell short. Cruz beat O’Rourke with just over 50 percent of the vote in Texas, underperforming Trump’s vote total from the 2016 presidential election. O’Rourke over-performed Hillary Clinton’s percentage from 2016 by about 5 percent, but ultimately, he could not unseat Cruz to be Texas’ U.S. Senator.


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