Congress, Elections | featured news

The special election race was dominated by the national debate over a GOP plan to overhaul Medicare. Democrat Kathy Hochul has won a special congressional election in a conservative pocket of western New York, a race dominated by the national debate over House Republicans’ proposal to overhaul Medicare, the Associated Press reported Tuesday.

The Alaska Supreme Court has upheld a lower court decision in the disputed U.S. Senate race, saying the state correctly counted write-in votes for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

As Senator Lisa Murkowski flew home to Alaska on Wednesday, The Associated Press declared her the winner of her long-shot write-in bid for re-election. Neither the Murkowski campaign nor the campaign of her competitor, Joe Miller, a Tea Party favorite who was backed by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, made an immediate comment.

Tea party backed Senate candidates in several states significantly underperformed more establishment Republican candidates running on the same ballot last Tuesday, data that provides further evidence that the tea party movement may have cost the GOP seats.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday's elections, in which Republicans won control of the House of Representatives and gained seats in the Senate, signaled that Americans were frustrated with the pace of economic recovery.

Republicans are signaling that they plan to push bills and strategies to undermine labor’s political clout and ability to grow.

In a year when the public sentiment is squarely against them, Democrats are hoping that well-funded, sophisticated voter turnout efforts will help them win.

President Barack Obama warned Saturday that Republicans could roll back his agenda if they prevail in Tuesday's congressional elections as he sought to rally Democrats in a final campaign push.

Despite a spate of television ads aimed at reintroducing her to voters, Republican Senate hopeful Christine O'Donnell of Delaware has failed to chip away at Democratic nominee Chris Coons' strong lead, according to a new poll. She even may be going backward.

Republicans enter the final week of a bitter U.S. election campaign as heavy favorites to win control of the House of Representatives and score big Senate gains, dealing a severe blow to President Barack Obama two years after he entered the White House.