US election 2020: Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham re-elected in blow to Democrats’ Senate hopes 

Lindsey Graham, 65, had been in the fight of his political life against Jamie Harrison

Credit: AP/Meg Kinnard

Mr Harrison, a black 44-year-old former lawyer and schoolteacher, earned comparisons to Democrat poster boy Beto O’Rourke, the charismatic former congressman who threatened to unseat Ted Cruz in Texas in the 2018 midterms.

But the record-breaking funding and high-profile endorsements would not be enough. With almost 60 per cent of precincts reporting, Mr Graham, chairman of the Senate committee, held a commanding 12 percentage point lead over Mr Harrison.

Mr Graham’s victory came just weeks after he shepherded Mr Trump’s nomination of appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Rob Godfrey, a long-time adviser to former South Carolina Republican governor Nikki Haley, predicted that the Democrats’ efforts in the ruby red state would end up being a boondoggle.

He told The Telegraph Mrs Barett’s hearing, taking place weeks before the election, had given Mr Graham a boost among socially conservative voters in the southern state.

Mitch McConnell is joined by his wife, Elaine Chao, as he speaks at a press conference in Kentucky

Credit: Mark Lyons/Shutterstock

Meanwhile, in Kentucky, Mr McConnell, the Senate majority leader, fended off Democrat Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot, in a costly campaign but acknowledged that his GOP colleagues faced tougher races.

The six-term 78-year-old Republican had touted his reputation as "the most conservative leader of either party in the history of the Senate" in his bid for re-election.

The Democrats have so far taken one seat from the Republicans in Colorado, where John Hickenlooper, the state’s former governor, has picked off incumbent senator Cory Gardner.

Several Democrats were re-elected including Dick Durbin of Illinois, Mark Warner in Virginia and Ed Markey, who survived a primary challenge in Massachusetts. Chris Coons kept the Delaware seat once held by Joe Biden, defeating a Republican who had previously promoted the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.

Among Republicans, John Cornyn in Texas, Tommy Tuberville in Alabama, Tom Cotton in Arkansas, Ben Sasse in Nebraska, Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia and James Inhofe in Oklahoma won.