US midterm elections: Democrats flip Senate seat in North Carolina

Hello, everyone. You're watching special coverage of the U.S. midterm elections here on France 24. I'm Monty Francis. Thanks so much for joining us. We'll be with you for the next three hours as the results come in for these crucial elections that will determine what will become of Donald Trump's final two years. In office, it's 3 a.m. here in Paris, and the polls have closed on the East Coast, in the South, and in parts of the Midwest. And we already have several key races that have been called. We'll get to that in just a moment. Now, Republicans currently have control of both chambers of Congress, and Democrats are looking to change the balance. We have a great team with us tonight to report on and to analyze the results as they come in. Our international affairs editor and former Washington correspondent, Ketavan Gorgastani, is in Washington alongside our current correspondent in Washington, Fraser Jackson. We also have France 24 correspondents spread across the U.S. Jessica LeMessurier is covering the much-watched Senate race in Michigan. Andres Espinal is in Texas covering the high-profile Senate race there, as well as the governor's race. Massim Kornay is in Los Angeles. We have Florence Vilmino. Welcome to everyone. We are so appreciative of all of your time. Before we get to the latest results, let's take a look at the magic numbers or what Democrats would have to do to take control. Now, in the House, all 435 seats are up for grabs. The Republicans have 218 and Democrats have 214. Democrats need 218 to take control of the House. In the Senate, there are currently 53 Republican senators, 45 Democrats, along with two independents. who caucused with the Democrats. Democrats need 51 seats to take control or a net gain of four seats. And also tonight, there are 36 governor's races happening. Currently, Republicans hold governorships in 26 states, Democrats in 24 states. We want to get right to the latest results, so let's hand it over to Florence to let me know at the big board. And, Flo, it looks like we have several races that have already been called. Where do we stand? Absolutely, Monty. Let's take a look, first of all, at some of the Senate results that have been called. You can see the map here. Everything that's in color, red or blue, these are races that have been called. And there have been some big wins for the Democrats tonight. Let's take a look, first of all, at Georgia here. This is a race that we were looking out for. John Ossoff, he managed to secure the seat there, beating out Mike Collins. So this was seen as rather good news for the Democrats, reassuring news for the Democrats. But the big news is coming out of North Carolina here. You can see Democrats there managed to flip. The seat with Roy Cooper beating Michael Watley there, this is a big win for Democrats as they have to flip those four seats. You can see here, this is the figure that we're going to be looking at tonight. So you can see Democrats have flipped one seat. Keep in mind that these figures are still coming in, so all these results that we're seeing are going to also shift throughout the night. But this, as we can see, is what we're looking at in the Senate. It's trending. So, as I said, these numbers might change as the night goes on. That's the Senate. Let's take a look at the House of Representatives as well. You can see all these districts that are coming in. So far, none of the big swings that we're focusing on have come in. We'll be keeping you updated throughout the night. But it's interesting to note that in Florida, the Democrats there managed to fend off Republicans in several districts that had been essentially redistricted. So the Republicans were trying to win those seats, but the Democrats managed to secure them. We'll be taking a look at some of the races that are coming in later. But just to take a look at how they're trending now, you can see here in Ohio, for instance, Democrats have a lead. But you've got to be careful because it's only 43 percent of the vote that's coming in. We're also paying close attention to what's happening. In Virginia, where there is also a tight race there, so far, Democrats are in the lead. Only 61% of the vote has been counted. And we're also paying close attention to what's happening in Michigan, where you can see here Republicans are in the lead, but only 27% of the vote has been counted. And as you mentioned, Monty, a lot of governors' races are also happening. And if we take a look at a map here, you can see some of these races. Have been called, the ones we're really taking a look at are. Here in Florida, for instance, you can see the Republican Byron Donalds is in the lead. This is a very tight race that we're paying close attention to. Ninety eight percent of the vote has been counted here. So it's looking good for Republicans. If he is to win, he would be the first black governor of Florida. Another race we're looking out for is what's happening in Georgia. You can see Keisha Lance Bottoms here. She's in the lead. Seventy percent of the vote counted here. If she is elected, she would be the first black. woman governor of Georgia. So these are just some of the races that we're looking out for, but we'll keep you posted as these states and races are called throughout the night. Okay, Flo, yeah, there are so many races that we're keeping an eye on right now, and we appreciate you doing that for us.