Former astronaut Mark Kelly, 58, won the race for a US Senate seat in Arizona on Friday against Republican Blake Masters. According to the Associated Press, with 83% of the count completed, he got 52% of the votes, compared to 46% for his rival.
The victory of Kelly, husband of Gabby Gifford, a former congressman seriously injured in a shooting in Tucson in 2011, increases the chances of Democrats winning a majority in the Senate in the midterms, the midterm elections, but the scenario is uncertain. .
To date, Democrats and Republicans each hold 49 seats in the House of 100 seats — 35 were up for grabs in the midterms. There are still ongoing disputes in Nevada and Georgia over whether President Joe Biden will achieve governance among senators.
To win a majority, Democrats would need to win at least one of the two seats still up for grabs. With that, they would add 50 seats next to the tie-breaking vote of the vice president, Kamala Harris, a scenario equal to the one they currently hold.
The numbers, however, show fierce races. In Nevada, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Democrat, and Republican Adam Laxalt are running. About 95% of the votes were counted, and on Friday night, Laxalt held a narrow majority: 48.5% against 48.4% for her opponent.
In Georgia, meanwhile, there will be a runoff on December 6 between Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, and Republican Herschel Walker, a former football player.
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