big picture for the u.s. senate. right now, democrats are leading at 48, republicans leading at 48, one in a republican seat, one in a democratic seat. it is really quite something. so, a couple different ways to look at it let s just start with our live voting vote counting a look at the map that s the democrat leading in the republican seat. that s the republican leading at the democratic seat pennsylvania and georgia. pennsylvania and georgia. how many times have we said pennsylvania and georgia? remember, coming in, the democrats thought that if we have a good night, maybe, maybe we could pick up two of the three are off the board. this one, north carolina this one, we see with a lead there, unlikely. we just called the ohio race for j.d. vance. you come up here, republicans hold that. j.d. vance in place of rob portman in the senate. wisconsin was the third. it s a very, very close competitive race, senator johnson lead over the democrat lieutenant governor. it
they could pick up some of the seats. look at this seat. this is a newly drawn district here. you have a democratic candidate candidate ahead, 40,000 votes. this is one you figure the senate candidates and gubernatorial candidates are winning big, when we pick up this district? that has been the challenge. republicans thought anything by biden won by one point is hours. what he won by two points is hours. biden won by this just by only 22 points. the democrat is scratching in crying tonight. this is a redrawn district, more favorable to democrats. he s been in congress forever. he was in congress, he lost, then he came back in the tea party years. i ve been around a while. with the redrawn lines this is a democratic district. so it s not a shock that the democrat won it, but in a year, again, when the republicans think, where taking democratic territory, we are taking that places we lost, especially in the suburbs in the trump years. that s a big win. that s a big win for the democ
right. that s exactly right. and i am being told that democratic congressman tim ryan has called j.d. vance to concede in this race. tim ryan was always viewed as the underdog. he thought that this race was overlooked and that people had a lot of support from the national party as you can hear, the crowd is getting very excited right now as the race is being called. there is a lot of energy in the room right now. j.d. vance is someone who is going to be very different than his predecessor. his predecessor, rob portman, is a long time centrist. j.d. vance, meanwhile, has been a fierce supporter of donald trump, then an election denier, i-2020 election denier, though he did say he will accept the results tonight. i have yet to hear whether he is going to come out and make a speech. we are expecting that to happen at some point. but we will keep you posted, jake. all right, melanie zanona at j.d. vance headquarters in ohio. cnn s projecting did events will be the next u.s. senator f
nevada and mark kelly holds on in arizona but it just gets you, as you just come back to where we are, it just gets you into the mat that we are in a very narrow chess game for control of the senate right now. and we have fewer pieces in play in a sense that we are waiting on pennsylvania, waiting on georgia, and then nevada. right now, if you are the democrats, jake, you are watching the nevada vote count and you are nervous. indeed. and cnn now has two major projections in earth carolina. cnn projects that congressman ted budd will become the next u.s. senator, defeating former north carolina supreme court justice cheri beasley. ted budd, endorsed by donald trump in this primary, and then donald trump rally for him throughout north carolina. he will become the next u.s. senator from north carolina. and connecticut this one is no surprise. incumbent democratic senator richard blumenthal will be reelected, defeating republican laura levy. let s take a look at the balance of power
oz 49.2%. this would be a democratic pick up if fetterman were to win here which would protect democrats if they lost elsewhere on the map, say in nevada, where republicans feel good about their chances. we have 84% of the vote in and against gonna keep going in pennsylvania. now let s check in with rob johnson where he s maintaining his lead. the over democrats over della, byron center 48.4%. right now we ve always expected this race to be very close. johnson is doing what he needs to do at this hour. 80% of the vote in in wisconsin. and let s check in now on arizona, where mark kelly is sitting at 57.8%. the republican blake masters, 39.9%. that s a comfortable lead. we need to know a little bit more about where the vote is still outstanding in arizona. let s now check in on utah, a really interesting one. likely the incumbent republican