2014 Senate Election

Election Run Up
The 2014 Senate election was run by Jack Reed for the Democrats and Jim Risch for the Republicans. The incumbent President was Mitt Romney, having won the 2012 Presidential election against ex-President Hillary Clinton. Under his 2 years, he had achieved a growing economy and less unemployment than his predecessor. Jack Reed had been the Senator for Rhode Island since 1997, whilst Jim Risch has been Senator for Idaho since 2009.

Debates
There were three debates for the 2014 Senate Election, held in three states perceived as some of the closest swing states by political analysts. CNN hosted two of the three, whilst Fox hosted the other. They were held in Atlanta (Georgia - CNN), Raleigh (North Carolina - CNN) and Des Moines (Iowa - Fox). The debate in Raleigh was between Risch and Reed, whilst the debate in Atlanta and Des Moines were 'doubles': Jim Risch and Lamar Alexander (Tennessee) versus Jack Reed and Jeff Merkley (Oregon). Instant reaction suggested that the Democrats won the debates in Raleigh and Des Moines, whilst the Republicans won the debate in Atlanta.

Polling
Polling of the Senate race was kept to a minimum during the campaign, however polling compiled during the first week of the campaign suggested that Iowa would be Iowa would be very marginal and that the Independent candidate, Greg Orman, could take Kansas from the Republicans.

Final Polling
This map was released in the final week of the campaign. It suggested that in seats with incumbent Republicans, the Democrats were doing better, whilst seats with new Republican candidates were holding.

Campaign Stops
Reed spent his final five days visiting Maine, Georgia, Nebraska, Montana and Idaho. Risch spent his final days in Iowa, Alaska, Colorado, New Hampshire and Mississippi.

Exit Poll
ABC released this exit poll map, with probability of control. This suggested that there was a less than 10% chance the Republicans would retain control, with he most likely outcome being 52 (D) to 48 (R), with a 21.2% chance. The chance of a 50-50 tie was 9.7%. If this exit poll was accurate, Maine would be the most marginal of the night, where a handful of votes could swing it either way. It supported earlier polling that incumbent Republicans were doing worse than their untried counterparts.

Final Results
The final results of the night gave the Democrats control of the Senate. The only 'upset' of the night was the result from Texas, where Republican incumbent John Cornyn was defeated by Democrat David Alameel, despite an 86% probability that the Republicans would retain it. The final result was, as the likeliest result suggested, 52 Democrats to 48 Republicans.