Republicans flip the US Senate after majority win

Republicans wrested the US Senate from Democratic control, US media projected early Wednesday, ending four years in the minority and providing a huge boost to the party in its quest to dominate every branch of government.

The victory means that the incoming president will get enormous support to enact their agenda and appoint justices to the powerful US Supreme Court if it's Donald Trump -- but legislative deadlock if it is his Democratic rival, Kamala Harris.

The US Capitol is divided into the House of Representatives -- where all 435 seats are up for grabs -- and a 100-member Senate, which has 34 seats at stake this year. Congressional elections run alongside the White House race.

Jim Justice, the sitting Republican governor of West Virginia, delighted Republicans early in the night when he emerged as an easy victor in the Senate race to replace retiring moderate Joe Manchin, an independent who voted with the Democrats.

Ohio then moved into the Republican column after longstanding Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown was defeated by Bernie Moreno, a Trump-endorsed businessman and the son of a one-time high-ranking Colombian government official.

Fox News and ABC called the race for control of the upper house after Republican Senator Deb Fischer fended off an unexpectedly robust challenge from an independent in Nebraska.

"I look forward to working with President Trump and our new conservative majority to make America great again by making the Senate work again," Texas Senator John Cornyn, a contender to lead the Republican majority from January, said in a statement.

The Justice and Moreno victories reversed the Democrats' 51-49 Senate advantage, with Republicans looking to extend their lead even further with potential pick-ups in Montana, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.