Republicans win back control of the Senate, ensuring Trump can appoint more judges

• Republicans are projected to retake the Senate majority, ending four years of Democratic control.
• It's not unexpected. Democrats were mostly on defense thanks to a punishing electoral map.
• With Trump projected to win, he'll be able to appoint judges, including any Supreme Court vacancy.

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Republicans are projected to regain control of the US Senate after winning seats in West Virginia, Ohio, and Montana. It ends four years of Democratic control.

With Donald Trump winning the presidential election, the GOP Senate victory ensures that he will have the ability to make judicial appointments, including filling any Supreme Court vacancies.

Democrats entered the election with a 51-49 majority. But Republicans were essentially handed an additional seat when Sen. Joe Manchin opted to retire in deep-red West Virginia, meaning the GOP needed to gain only one more seat to take back the majority.

The GOP picked up their 51st seat in Ohio, where Sen. Sherrod Brown lost to the Republican candidate Bernie Moreno. The Republican incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer also defeated the independent Dan Osborn in Nebraska.

Republicans won their 52nd seat in Montana, where Sen. Jon Tester was defeated GOP candidate Tim Sheehy. In Pennsylvania, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey was trailing GOP challenger Dave McCormick as of Wednesday morning.

It's not entirely unexpected. Despite dramatically outraising Republicans in many of this year's tightest Senate races, Democrats faced a punishing map and were primarily on defense.

The past two cycles, by contrast, offered several pick-up opportunities for Democrats, and the party defied expectations by holding onto a majority in 2022.

Democrats remained locked in tight races in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin as of Wednesday morning. Nevada and Arizona also saw competitive races.

Democrats' best pick-up opportunity in the Senate was in Texas, where Republican Sen. Ted Cruz ultimately survived a tougher-than-expected challenge from Rep. Colin Allred.

It remains unclear who will control the House of Representatives next year, with several key races yet to be decided as of Wednesday morning.