US Election Senate Results: Democrats Win Majority

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Update 11:48pm EST

The Democrats appear to have made further gains in the Senate race. At last count, the Democrats have 56 seats compared to the Republicans 37. If that number holds, the Democrats will have gained five seats in the Senate.

Seven seats remain undecided. One race to watch will be in Minnesota where comedian Al Franken is in a neck-and-neck race with Republican candidate Norm Coleman. Both candidates have about 42 percent of the vote with independent candidate Dean Barkley getting about 15 percent. 

US election results project that the Democrats will win a seat majority in the US Senate.  35 of the 100 senate seats were being contested. 

There have been some momentous upheavals so far in the Senate results, including the replacement of Republican John Sununu by Democrat Jeanne Shaheen in New Hampshire, while Elizabeth Dole (wife of previous presidential hopeful Bob Dole) of North Carolina lost her seat to Democrat Kay Hagan, and Mark Warner beat Republican hopeful Jim Gilmore for a seat formerly occupied by retiring Senator John Warner (no relation to Mark Warner).

Of the 35 seats being contested, 23 belong to Republicans (5 due to retirement) compared to just 12 for Democrats.  

So far, the Democrats are enjoying a 52% lead - 51% of the seats are required for a majority.

Here is how the seats were distributed prior to the November 4, 2008 election:

Republican: 49
Democrat: 49
Independents: 2