Republicans won a majority in the Senate with key victories in West Virginia and Ohio pushing them over the top. 

This ends Democrats’ four-year, razor-thin majority. The current balance of power is 51-49 but for two of those years the senate was split 50-50 and Democrats only had a majority with Vice President Harris as the tie-breaking vote. 

This will have a significant impact on cabinet and judicial confirmations during the next presidential administration. 

It’s also significant because senior Senate Democrats said if they held the majority they would reconsider ending the filibuster to pass voting rights and abortion legislation. 

The big question now is – who will be the majority leader? Mitch McConnell is stepping down from the position after becoming the longest serving in history. 

There are three candidates – John Thune, John Cornyn and Rick Scott. 

Thune is from South Dakota and currently serves as the Republican Whip, or the number two. He’s in charge of counting how republicans will vote on certain bills and trying to convince holdouts to support the party’s legislative priorities. 

Cornyn is from Texas and previously served as whip but had to step down because he was term-limited. 

Scott previously served as the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, their campaign arm. He also challenged McConnell for leader in 2022 but only received 10 votes compared to McConnell’s 37.