Sen. Susan Collins Declares Victory After Fending off Strong Democratic Challenger

The path for Democrats to regain control of the U.S. Senate appears to be narrowing.

On the eve of the 2020 election, Democrats were hopeful they would flip at least three or four seats and regain control of the upper chamber. By Wednesday morning, Republican incumbents had been defeated in Colorado and Arizona.

However, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), considered one of the most vulnerable incumbents, announced on Wednesday that Democrat Sara Gideon had called her to concede the race.

“I have news to report to you,” she told supporters, adding, “I just received a very gracious call from Sara Gideon conceding the race.”

She continued, “I want to publicly thank Sara for her call. We had a good talk, and I very much appreciate her taking the time to call.”

By 2:30 p.m. EST on Wednesday, Collins was leading Gideon 50.1% to 43.2%.

Watch the video below:

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1324055862512672768

Prior to the election, the non-partisan Cook Political Report rated Collins’ seat as a “toss-up race.”

The Cook Political Report also rated other seats held by Republicans as toss-ups, including Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

But, as the results came in, Democrats saw their options for regaining control of the Senate diminish as races in Montana, Iowa, and Maine have been called for the Republicans. Additionally, Sen. Doug Jones (R-Ala.) lost his Senate seat to Republican Tommy Tuberville.

Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) is leading in his re-election bid and appears to have avoided a run-off election. Meanwhile, there is a run-off election set for Georgia’s other Senate race. 

And Republican candidates are leading in Michigan — which is currently held by Democratic Sen. Gary Peters — and North Carolina.