Black women are stepping up as Democratic candidates for governor and the U.S. Senate as the party looks to expand its footprint in Sun Belt battlegrounds.

Instead, the sprint to the Jan. 5 runoffs for two seats in Georgia will determine whether the Senate becomes a Republican-held check on Biden's agenda or a Democratic partnership with the new White House. With a Democratic Senate, Biden would have allies to easily confirm his nominees, including for cabinet positions, and shape passage of legislation. If Republicans keep control, Senate Majority Mitch McConnell can block Biden's agenda. Senate Republicans need Trump — and his voters — on board for the Georgia race. Loeffler and Perdue stunned many this week when they jointly called their own state election system an “embarrassment" as Biden was leading over Trump.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Democrat Cal Cunningham conceded to incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis in North Carolina on Tuesday, saying “the voters have spoken” and it was clear Tillis had won. With votes still uncounted and the races in North Carolina and Alaska still too early to call Tuesday, the Senate remained tied 48-48. Alaska GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan is favored for another term against Al Gross, an independent running as a Democrat. In North Carolina, Tillis led Cunningham by 94,500 votes, from among more than 5.4 million votes counted so far. North Carolina counties had yet to process about 27,500 absentee ballots and about 23,000 provisional ballots.

The delay has the potential to upend civic norms, impede Biden’s transition to the White House and sow doubt in the nation’s civic and election systems. Trump would need to produce ample evidence of impropriety to undo Biden’s lead, which appears unlikely. Trump and his GOP allies haven’t offered evidence of election fraud, and their legal challenges have largely been rejected by the courts. McConnell noted the potential turmoil during the transition in praising ousted Defense Secretary Mark Esper, whom Trump fired on Monday. The stakes are high for all sides, with strategists expecting an eye-popping $500 million could be spent in the weeks ahead.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters during a press conference in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., won another term as Republican leader, his office said, cementing his role as the longest-serving GOP leader in U.S. history. But it’s still to be determined whether McConnell will retain his role as majority leader or cede it to Schumer as the final races for the U.S. Senate play out. Republicans brushed back Democratic challengers in several states, but failed to lock down the seats needed to retain their majority. A Democratic majority in the Senate, the party that also controls the House would give the party a firm grasp on power in Washington.

WASHINGTON – Control of the Senate likely won’t be decided until a January runoff in Georgia, even after Democrat Joe Biden won the White House on Saturday. That post-election cliff-hanger will determine the balance of power in Washington, as neither party appears to have a lock on a Senate majority right now. If Democrats fall short, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, could wield the power to check Biden's ambitions. And Republican Sen. David Perdue, a top Trump ally, will face Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. “It’s all on the line in Georgia,” said Steven Law, the president of Senate Leadership Fund, the outside group aligned with McConnell that spent big trying keep Senate control.

WASHINGTON – Control of the Senate likely won’t be decided until a January runoff in Georgia, even after Democrat Joe Biden won the White House on Saturday. That post-election cliff-hanger will determine the balance of power in Washington, as neither party appears to have a lock on a Senate majority right now. If Democrats fall short, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, could wield the power to check Biden's ambitions. And Republican Sen. David Perdue, a top Trump ally, will face Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff. “It’s all on the line in Georgia,” said Steven Law, the president of Senate Leadership Fund, the outside group aligned with McConnell that spent big trying keep Senate control.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters during a press conference in Louisville, Ky., Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2020. “We’re waiting — whether I’m going to be the majority leader or not,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Wednesday. There already is a Jan. 5 runoff in the state's other Senate race. Securing the Senate majority will be vital for the winner of the presidency. John Hickenlooper defeated GOP Sen. Cory Gardner, and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat Republican incumbent Martha McSally.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on track to keep control of the Democratic House, but saw her majority shrinking and her leadership called into question. By evening, Pelosi had all but declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner, saying House Democrats “will now have the opportunity to deliver extraordinary progress” on party priorities — lowering health care costs, providing jobs through new infrastructure and others. “I know folks are anxious,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told followers on a live Twitter video. McConnell also warned of the continued problems Republicans face in the Trump era as voters turn away from the GOP. “It’s time for a different approach,” said Democrat John Hickenlooper, a former governor who unseated Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi was on track to keep control of the Democratic House, but saw her majority shrinking and her leadership called into question. By evening, Pelosi had all but declared Democrat Joe Biden the winner, saying House Democrats “will now have the opportunity to deliver extraordinary progress” on party priorities — lowering health care costs, providing jobs through new infrastructure and others. “I know folks are anxious,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy told followers on a live Twitter video. McConnell also warned of the continued problems Republicans face in the Trump era as voters turn away from the GOP. “It’s time for a different approach,” said Democrat John Hickenlooper, a former governor who unseated Republican Sen. Cory Gardner in Colorado.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said President Donald Trump’s campaign helped his GOP allies, but that state election officials were still counting ballots. Key Senate races in North Carolina, Alaska and Georgia remained undecided. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis has struggled against Democrat Cal Cunningham, despite the married challenger’s sexting scandal with a public relations strategist. GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler will face Democrat Raphael Warnock, a Black pastor at the church where the Rev.

Republican Senate candidate Sen. Mitch McConnell, second from right, and his wife, Elaine Chao, right, look on as aides show him the election results in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)WASHINGTON – Hopes fading for Senate control, Democrats had a disappointing election night as Republicans swatted down an onslaught of challengers and fought to retain their fragile majority. Democrats contested seats from New England to the Deep South and the Midwest to the Mountain West, reaching deep into GOP strongholds. The Democrats' gains were in Colorado and Arizona, where former astronaut Mark Kelly beat GOP incumbent Martha McSally. Republican Cynthia Lummis, the former congresswoman from Wyoming, won the Senate seat being vacated by Republican Mike Enzi.

Republican senators are fighting to save their majority against an onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats that are now hotbeds of the backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans are fighting to save their majority, a final election push against the onslaught of challengers in states once off limits to Democrats but now hotbeds of a potential backlash to President Donald Trump and his allies on Capitol Hill. With it, a reelected Trump could confirm his nominees and ensure a backstop against legislation from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. With the chamber now split, 53-47, three or four seats will determine Senate control, depending on which party wins the White House. Swooping in to fill the gap for Republicans is the Senate Leadership Fund, tapping deep-pocketed donors.

FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2020, file photo, Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham talks during during a televised debate with Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., in Raleigh, N.C. Cunningham inched back into the public sphere on Wednesday, Oct. 7, a day after The Associated Press reported the he had an intimate encounter this summer with a public relations consultant. Within hours of the military disclosing that it is investigating Cunningham, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, he rejected the idea that the race with Tillis had turned into a referendum on his character, even while expressing remorse for extramarital activity. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, Pool)

(AP Photo/Gerry Broome, Pool)RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cal Cunningham is bypassing uncomfortable questions about his extramarital activities in the final days of his closely contested race with GOP Sen. Thom Tillis. Tillis' campaign also says he's given more than two dozen interviews since Cunningham's lone news conference. Groups from the Human Rights Campaign to the North Carolina League of Conservation Voters to unions are coming to Cunningham's side. Cunningham’s campaign didn’t make him available for an AP interview. “It's troubling for sure, but I don’t think that those actions will change what he can do for North Carolina,” Hall said.

Confirmation hearings are set to begin Monday for President Donald Trump's Supreme Court nominee giving Republicans one last chance to salvage their Senate majority by wresting attention away from the White House and its COVID-19 response and onto the GOP’s longtime goal of fashioning a conservative court. Only two GOP senators balked at quick confirmation. This time, it's much about securing his own legacy reshaping the judiciary into what allies call the “McConnell Court” as giving his majority a landing pad after a tumultuous four years with Trump. Having already bent Senate rules to allow 51-vote threshold to advance Supreme Court nominees, rather than 60 as was tradition, McConnell is now poised to usher a third Trump justice to confirmation. “It’s not going to be remembered as the McConnell Court,” said Stevens.

“The Senate map is looking exceedingly grim,” said one major GOP donor, Dan Eberhart. (It's only three if Biden wins the White House.) As Trump’s fundraising has plateaued in recent months, it has spiked for Republican outside groups that are supporting House and Senate candidates. In 2016, Republican Senate candidates lost in every state Trump lost and won where Trump won. Even in red states, Republicans are starting to make clear they aren't following Trump when it comes to the pandemic.

RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham inched back into the public sphere on Wednesday, a day after The Associated Press reported the Democratic contender had an intimate encounter this summer with a public relations consultant. “The Army Reserve is investigating the matters involving (Lt. Col.) James Cunningham,” Lt. Col. Simon Flake said in an emailed statement Wednesday morning that cited Cunningham by his official first name. “He owes North Carolinians a full explanation,” Tillis’ campaign account tweeted Wednesday. “The truth still matters in North Carolina, Cal.”Cunningham also made his first quasi-public appearance Wednesday night — speaking briefly at an environmental awards ceremony. The Tillis-Cunningham race is closely contested and the most expensive Senate race in the country in terms of campaign spending.

Yet the text messages and interviews offer a glimpse that is at odds with the image of a devoted family man. A week ago, a conservative website, NationalFile.com, published text messages between Cunningham and Arlene Guzman Todd, a public relations strategist from California, that suggested a personal relationship. In a series of interviews late Monday as well as in the text messages, Guzman Todd described two in-person encounters with Cunningham. One was in March in Los Angeles that she said did not include intimate contact, and a second was in July in North Carolina, where she said they were intimate. “I’m just going to send to his opponent his naked photos,” Guzman Todd wrote.

FILE - Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham speaks during a televised debate with U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, in Raleigh, N.C. Cunningham has admitted to sending sexual text messages to a California strategist who is not his wife. Cunningham apologized but said he would not drop out of the race in a statement to multiple news outlets late Friday. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, Pool, file)

(AP Photo/Gerry Broome, Pool, file)RALEIGH, N.C. – North Carolina's intensely competitive and expensive U.S. Senate race has been upended by personal and health disruptions that sent sharp tremors and uncertainty through the campaigns and an electorate already casting ballots. McLennan and Gary Pearce, a longtime state Democratic consultant, said it's unclear how much of an effect the text messages will have on the election. Petri said Cunningham tested negative for COVID-19 on Saturday and will be tested again Monday. The Tillis campaign, citing its own health concerns, deferred on Saturday questions about the text messages to Cunningham. Tillis' campaign hasn't announced his third quarter fundraising totals.

Lee, who did not wear a mask at the White House event, said he had “symptoms consistent with longtime allergies." "We now have two members of the Senate Judiciary Committee who have tested positive for COVID, and there may be more," tweeted Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer. Blackburn said she tested negative after the event. Graham was not at the White House on Saturday but sees Trump frequently. He feels healthy, hasn’t exhibited any COVID-19 symptoms, and has tested negative.

WASHINGTON – Republican senators weighing what to do about the vacancy on the Supreme Court are facing questions about their own past comments amid complaints by Democrats that their views have shifted with changing political reality. A look at what key Republican senators were saying in the past — and what they are saying now — about filling a seat on the Supreme Court during an election year. Her comments to Alaska Public Radio on Friday also occurred before McConnell said the Senate will vote on Trump's nominee to replace Ginsburg. SEN. THOM TILLISTillis, a North Carolina Republican who serves on the Judiciary panel, was among several GOP senators in tough reelection battles to join Trump in calling for a swift vote on a Supreme Court nominee. His spokeswoman called a report that Romney would insist on delaying the vote until after Inauguration Day “grossly false.” Romney has never faced a vote on a Supreme Court nominee as a senator.

FILE - In this March 2, 2020 file photo, Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., speaks during a campaign rally for President Donald Trump in Charlotte, N.C. Tillis is calibrating his ties to Trump as he tries to find the right path for reelection in a closely divided state. (AP Photo/Mike McCarn, File)

Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, Trump said, has “been by my side!”But at that moment, Tillis wasn’t. Trump is holding a rally in Fayetteville, his fourth event in the battleground state in as many weeks, on Saturday. Voters most likely to back the president get campaign materials highlighting Tillis’ support for Trump’s policies. North Carolina remains among a dozen states without expansion — an issue that Cunningham used to criticize Tillis during the debate. Unaffiliated Charlotte voter Don Jonas, 53, said this week he still considers himself a persuadable voter in the Senate race.

With the Washington Monument in the background, a crowd on the South Lawn of the White House watches the Republican National Convention as it plays on a screen on the fourth day of the convention, Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Few in the audience wore masks when virtually all leading public health professionals, including the administration's, say face coverings play a big part in slowing virus transmission. Public health officials also expressed concern over a march in Washington on Friday to commemorate the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Wen, the former Baltimore health official, said the White House event gives the public the false impression that precautions are no longer necessary. Tillis campaign tweeted a picture of the first-term senator wearing a mask on the White House lawn on Thursday before Trumps speech. It was very hard to reconcile those images with what is known about prevention and public health, said Dr. Howard Koh, a public health professor at Harvard and a former assistant secretary at the Department of Health and Human Services under President Barack Obama.

FILE - In this Nov. 15, 2019, file photo former Georgia House Democratic Leader Stacey Abrams, speaks at the National Press Club in Washington. Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has already narrowed the field by saying he will pick a woman. Gretchen Whitmer, other names that have been part of the speculation are Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Abrams. On Thursday, Abrams announced that she was backing Democratic candidates in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina. For Arizona, Abrams said former astronaut Mark Kelly has a proven record of service to our country. John Hickenlooper, the former Colorado governor and 2020 presidential candidate, is the one to help us cross the finish line for a Democratic Senate majority, Abrams said.

FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, file photo, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Cal Cunningham speaks during an interview in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome, File)RALEIGH, N.C. – Former Democratic state lawmaker Cal Cunningham, the primary candidate favored by his party's leaders in the U.S. Senate, advanced Tuesday to a general election challenge against GOP Sen. Thom Tillis. Cunningham, a former state senator and Iraq War veteran, defeated state Sen. Erica Smith and three other Democrats and will face Tillis in November. A former state House speaker who defeated Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan in 2014, Tillis had appeared headed for a tough primary with one or two well-funded challengers. Tillis also spoke at Trump’s in-state rallies, including one in Charlotte on the eve of the primary.