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Susan Collins was previously behind in all polls
Photo: Aaron Bernstein / REUTERS
At the same time as the presidential election, a third of the 100 seats in the Senate will be awarded.
The choice is almost as important.
Because if the party that provides the president does not get a majority, it cannot pass many laws.
And the election brought some surprise winners.
For example, Republican Susan Collins secured the spot for the US state of Maine, although she was behind in all polls.
Election observers actually assumed that their zigzag course on Donald Trump could cost them votes.
Sometimes she criticized Trump, sometimes she protected him
Collins is a moderate Republican and has cautiously criticized the incumbent president over the past few months.
The 67-year-old spoke out against the quick confirmation of Trump-nominated constitutional judge Amy Coney Barrett before the presidential and congressional elections.
The President then repeatedly attacked the Senator.
Two years ago, however, Collins agreed to the appeal of the also controversial judge Brett Kavanaugh and stood behind Trump in the impeachment proceedings.
Former astronaut Mark Kelly became the surprise winner of the Democrats.
He got a Senate seat in the traditionally republican state of Arizona.
Fun fact: Together with his brother Scott, Kelly is the only identical twin astronaut pair to date, which helped science to make amazing discoveries.
Republicans are forecast to retain a majority in the Senate
The Democrat Sarah McBride was elected as the first transgender senator.
She now represents the US state of Delaware.
She hopes the election shows transgender children "that our democracy is big enough for them too," she wrote on Twitter about her election victory.
However, there were several dampeners for the Democrats.
They failed to beat the Republican senators in a few races that polls found deemed close:
So the Democrat Jamie Harrison could not prevail against the previous head of the judicial committee Lindsey Graham.
Republican Mitch McConnell also defended his seat. The Democrats had sent former pilot Amy McGrath, 45, into the race against McConnell, 78, with large funds in the state of Kentucky.
In vain.
As expected, the Democrats lost the Senate seat in Alabama.
Democratic Senator Doug Jones was beaten by former American football coach Tommy Tuberville, who ran for the Republicans.
The Democrats had actually planned to get the majority in the Senate.
They currently have 45 votes.
However, according to current projections, Republicans are likely to retain their majority.
Even if Democrat Joe Biden were to become president, he would therefore hardly be able to implement his major reform plans.
In particular, the current Senate leader, Republican Mitch McConnell, thwarted many projects during Barack Obama's tenure after the Democrats lost a majority in the Senate in 2014.
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koe / dpa / Reuters