By Indianara Goz
Election night in the United States brought Donald Trump his first setback in the Senate. Democrat Roy Cooper, a former governor of North Carolina, defeated Republican Michael Whatley, the candidate backed by the president, and took a seat that had belonged to the Republican Party. The Associated Press projected the win.
North Carolina flips, Florida holds
In Florida the result went the other way. Republican Ashley Moody won and kept the seat in the hands of Trump's party.
Two other Democrats also won. In Georgia, Jon Ossoff was re-elected against Republican Mike Collins. In Virginia, Mark Warner secured another term.
The Senate math: what Republicans need
Before the election, Republicans held 53 of the Senate's 100 seats. They need 50 to keep control of the chamber, because Vice President JD Vance casts the tie-breaking vote. With the loss in North Carolina, Trump's party can lose at most two more seats.
The outcome now depends on races that have not yet been called. Republicans are defending seats in Maine, Texas, Iowa, Ohio, Alaska and South Carolina. In Michigan, the party has a chance to take a seat from the Democrats.
Why it matters
The Senate is one of the two chambers of the US Congress. Control of it shapes what the president can pass and whom he can appoint. For Trump, a Republican majority in the chamber is central to the rest of his term. Every seat that changes hands narrows the margin.
VDD Analysis
North Carolina is a divided state, and Cooper is a name local voters know well, with two terms as governor. The defeat hurts, but it does not decide the night. The Republican majority stays standing as long as the party holds the states where Trump won comfortably in 2024. The results in Texas, Maine and Alaska will show whether the president finishes his term with the Senate in his party's hands.
