Sen. Tim Scott was re-elected Tuesday in what he said would be his last term serving South Carolina.
Scott defeated Democratic State Rep. Crystal Matthews for a second full term. He was appointed to the United States Senate in 2013 by then-Governor Nikki Haley, after Jim Demint resigned, also winning a special election.
Scott is the only black Republican in the US Senate.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Peter Welch easily defeated a little-known Republican opponent to win the Vermont Senate seat vacated by Patrick Leahy, the longest-serving member of the House.
Welch, who was elected to the House of Representatives in 2006 and has since won re-election by a large margin every two years, defeated Republican Gerald Malloy, a retired US Army officer backed by former President Donald Trump.
In a year in which parties are vying for control of the Senate, Welch’s election maintains the state’s seat in the Democratic column.
In Kentucky, Republican Sen. Rand Paul, a moderate-leaning conservative and former presidential candidate, won a third term defeating progressive Democrat Charles Booker, an opponent from the other end of the political spectrum.
First elected in 2010 on the wave of the Tea Party movement, Paul’s victory extended a long Republican winning streak in the Kentucky Senate race. The state has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.
