
Four full days after Election Day, the improbable 2022 midterms have reached their penultimate chapter in dramatic fashion, with confirmation that Democrats will maintain control of the U.S. Senate in the next Congress.
All major news outlets declared Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada the projected winner over Republican Adam Laxalt on Saturday night, after a near-final count of mail ballots in the Las Vegas area pushed her ahead by a few thousand votes. Combined with Sen. Mark Kelly's re-election in Arizona over Republican Blake Masters, which was confirmed on Friday, that will give Democrats 50 seats in the Senate — enough for a majority, given Vice President Kamala Harris' tie-breaking vote.