Polls in Kentucky closed at 6:00 pm and US Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been re-elected to his Senate seat. McConnell will now be waiting to learn whether he might be the majority leader in the new Congress. McConnell defeated Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in an election that McConnell called a referendum on President Barack Obama.
Republicans began the night needing six additional Senate seats in order to control the Senate. South Carolina's two Republican senators have retained their seats. Lindsey Graham won a third term over Democrat Brad Hutto. And Tim Scott will finish the final two years of the Senate term of Jim DeMint.
Polls closed at 7:00 pm in Illinois after voters cast their ballots in the state's 2014 midterm election.
The exception includes a handful of polling places in Chicago that were allowed to stay open later on Tuesday evening. That's because election judges arrived late and polls didn't open on time. A judge also extended voting for same-day registrants in Lake County until 9 p.m. That happened after Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan argued that the Lake County clerk opened sites offering a new same-day signup option at 10 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. The clerk says the sites opened late because of a shortage of poll workers.
Illinois' top race is for Governor. Most polls place the race to close to call. In southern Illinois, the race for the 12th US House District is also expected to be very competitive.
