DALLAS — Democrats stood on the brink of reclaiming the Senate majority on Tuesday night, flipping Republican-held seats in Texas, North Carolina and South Carolina.
They were also building big leads in several other battleground states in what was shaping up to be a disastrous midterm election for Republicans.
Several toss-up Senate races remained undecided late Tuesday, but the signs pointed to a crushing loss for the GOP in Kansas, which would provide Democrats with a fourth pickup.
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Republicans received a significant gut punch in South Carolina, where the late Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s younger sister, Darline Graham, was defeated by Democrat Annie Andrews.
Just weeks ago, South Carolina was considered a relatively safe GOP seat. But Ms. Graham struggled in debates and on the campaign trail and started sinking in the polls amid voter dissatisfaction with the economy and President Trump’s job performance.
Texas was also once considered a safe GOP seat and had not elected a Democrat to the Senate in nearly four decades. But Republican Ken Paxton failed to win over young voters, Hispanics, women and independents. He was also dragged down by economic woes blamed on Republicans. By late Tuesday, Democratic state Rep. James Talarico was projected the winner.
In Kansas, where no Democrat has been elected to the Senate in nearly a century, Republican incumbent Sen. Roger Marshall was losing to Democrat Adam Hamilton late Tuesday by double digits.
A pick-up opportunity for Republicans in New Hampshire ended up a dud for the GOP.
Republican John Sununu was easily defeated by Democratic Rep. Chris Pappas in the Senate race and was on track to lose by double digits.
The rout for Republicans began almost as soon as the earliest results were tallied. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, who was once thought to be a vulnerable incumbent, easily defeated Republican Mike Collins in Georgia.
Democrat Roy Cooper, North Carolina’s former governor, quickly cruised to victory over former Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley in the state’s Senate race, flipping the seat from GOP control.
Early returns hinted at the blue wave Republicans have feared even in deep-red Florida, where Republican incumbent Sen. Ashley Moody defeated Democrat Angie Nixon by just 3 points in the special election to finish the term vacated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
Democrats needed four additional seats to win back the majority in the Senate. As of late Tuesday, they netted three and were on track to win in Kansas.
Races in Maine, Ohio and Alaska were too close to call, as was Michigan, a seat held by Democrats that Republicans are hoping to flip red.
In Maine and Alaska, ranked-choice voting could delay results for weeks.
Alaska also faces a federal and state investigation over a candidate known as “Decoy Dan,” who was recruited by Democrats to siphon away votes from Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan.
“There’s a scenario where the incumbent, the Senator Sullivan, could lose, but really he didn’t lose, really because of rank-based voting,” Mr. Blanche said Tuesday on Fox News.
Mr. Sullivan was trailing Democrat Mary Peltola by 2.4 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average, which is less than the 2.5 percent of the vote Decoy Dan won in Alaska’s open primary.
In Maine, incumbent Republican Susan Collins and Democrat Troy Jackson were battling to prevail in a toss-up race subject to ranked-choice voting.
If neither candidate wins more than half the vote on Tuesday, state officials will initiate ranked-choice voting tabulation that they said can take up to two weeks.
Ms. Collins, campaigning in Houlton on Tuesday, predicted she would be elected to a sixth term. Ms. Collins vastly outperformed polls predicting her defeat when she ran for a fifth term, and was confident she’d do it again.
“I’m very encouraged we are going to be celebrating a victory tonight,” Ms. Collins said.
Her opponent, Democrat Troy Jackson, who is endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, has run on an agenda aimed at stopping the Trump agenda and advancing government-run health care and paid leave.
“People are struggling like I’ve never seen before, and there is absolutely no reason for it,” Mr. Jackson said at a campaign stop in the Democratic stronghold of Portland. He said he does not expect to win the state’s Republican-leaning 2nd Congressional District. “But if we can stay close and do well down here, I think that’s the ball game right there.”
After late polls and prediction markets gave Democrats a higher probability than Republicans of winning control of Congress, Democratic lawmakers were nearly measuring the drapes in the majority office suites in the Capitol.
“We don’t want to count our chickens before they hatch, so I characterize our mood as nauseously optimistic,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, said. “A year ago no one thought we could do it. No one thought we would be even close to taking the Senate back.”
Mr. Schumer credited Democrats for focusing on the high costs of groceries, gas, housing and health insurance. “We also focused on the corruption of the Trump administration,” Mr. Schumer said.
In Irving, Texas, hundreds of voters had turned out at the Valley Ranch Library polling station by mid-morning Tuesday.
A 75-year-old retiree from Irving who grew up in communist Russia and came to the United States two decades ago said he doesn’t like Mr. Trump. But he is sticking with the Republican ticket in Texas because he doesn’t support the Democratic Party’s liberal agenda.
“I don’t want to go back,” said the voter, who only gave his name as Alexei.
Salman Abidi, 54, a music and media promoter from the Dallas area, said he voted for Mr. Trump in 2024 but planned to vote for Democrats in the Texas election.
He still backs Mr. Trump but believes that “right now, there are things he’s not handling the right way,” which he said is dividing the country.
• Seth McLaughlin reported from Troy, Michigan.
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