Obama re-elected president
CHICAGO, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Barack Obama was re-elected president of the United States Tuesday, winning a bitter, expensive campaign against Republican Mitt Romney Tuesday.
Shouts, whoops and hollers erupted at Obama's headquarters in Chicago against The Beatles' "Twist and Shout."
Obama was the projected winner in battleground states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Iowa and Wisconsin.
Romney picked up battleground state North Carolina, which voted for Obama in 2008, and flipped Indiana back to red.
Obama was projected the winner at around 11 p.m. EST.
The projected electoral votes are 274 for Obama and 203 for Romney. A candidate needs 270 electoral votes to win the presidency.
Leads flipped between Obama and Romney in battleground states but never varied by more than a couple of percentage points as results started being counted.
Republicans were projected to maintain their majority in the House of Representatives. Reports indicated Republicans not only would hold their majority, but possibly add to it.
The Senate was projected to remain under Democratic control.
Two major upsets for Republicans were projected in the Senate. CNN projected Democrat Elizabeth Warren ousted Sen. Scott Brown and Democrat Rep. Joe Donnelly defeated Richard Mourdock to replace veteran Sen. Richard Lugar, who was ousted in the nominating process.
Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., held on to her seat, fending off a challenge by Rep. Todd Akin.
In Virginia, former Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, defeated former Gov. George Allen to succeed retiring Sen. Jim Webb.
In Connecticut, Democrat Chris Murphy was the projected winner over Linda McMahon to replace retiring Sen. Joe Lieberman, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
Republicans were projected to lose in Maine, as independent Angus King was the projected winner to succeed retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe.
Elected to his first full term in the Senate was Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who was elected to complete the unexpired term of Sen. Robert C. Byrd.
Ohio puts Obama over the top
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Ohioans voted for President Obama Tuesday, and the state's 18 electoral votes sent the Democratic incumbent to victory over his Republican rival, Mitt Romney.
Several networks projected Obama edged Romney in the key swing state. With 74 percent of precincts counted, CNN said the president had 2,162,012 votes to 2,131,776 for the former Massachusetts governor, a 50 percent to 49 percent margin.
The margin was much smaller than four years ago, when Obama won by 4.6 percentage points. George W. Bush won the state in 2004. No Republican candidate in decades has won the presidency without winning Ohio.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated Republican challenger Josh Mandel. The state treasurer and Iraq war veteran had been tagged with Ohio Politifact's "Pants on Fire" rating for his campaign rhetoric, including unsubstantiated claims that votes cast by Brown were responsible for Ohio jobs being moved to China.
Ohio's 16th Congressional District was considered a tossup where freshman Republican Rep. Jim Renacci squared off against Democratic Rep. Betty Sutton, who got thrown into the 16th District through redistricting after representing the 13th District for three terms. Renacci canceled his TV ads in the campaign's final days to focus on direct advertising.
Republicans gained control of the state Legislature in 2010 and after redistricting, the Pew Center on the States' Stateline news website said that was unlikely to change this year.
Romney, McCaskill, Nixon win in Missouri
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney won Missouri's 10 electoral votes Tuesday, election results showed.
MSNBC projected the former Massachusetts governor took the Show Me State from President Obama based on his lead in early returns. CNN said Romney led 57-41 with 48 percent of the votes in.
Romney had been expected to win the state.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill fended off Republican challenger U.S. Rep. Todd Akin 52-41 with 47 percent of precincts counted, CNN said.
Akin's campaign took a heavy blow when he suggested women who have been raped have a biological defense against pregnancy.
In the race for governor, Democratic incumbent Jay Nixon bested his Republican challenger, businessman Dave Spence, 53 percent to 44 percent, CNN said.
The Democrats were looking to make inroads in the state Legislature, where Republicans held a 106-57 edge in the House and a 26-8 edge in the Senate.
Obama wins Mass.; Dems. pick up Sen. seat
BOSTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- President Barack Obama won Massachusetts' 11 electoral votes Tuesday, beating Mitt Romney in the state he ran as governor, results indicated.
In addition, Democrat Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor, unseated Republican Sen. Scott Brown, giving Democrats a second pickup of the night of a Republican Senate seat.
The other seat was Democratic Rep. Joe Donnelly's victory in Indiana against Republican Tea Party favorite Richard Mourdock.
Obama tallied 61 percent of the vote to Republican presidential nominee Romney's 38 percent, with 42 percent of the results tallied.
Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson and Green Party nominee Jill Stein, a Massachusetts physician, early collected 1 percent of the vote.
Warren won 53 percent to Brown's 47 percent, with 41 percent of the results tallied. Brown conceded late Tuesday night.
Romney was governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. As governor, he helped develop and enact into law the Massachusetts healthcare reform legislation -- the first of its kind in the nation -- that provided near-universal health insurance access through state-level subsidies and individual mandates to purchase insurance.
He also presided over the elimination of a projected $1.2 billion to $1.5 billion deficit through a combination of spending cuts, increased fees and the closure of corporate tax loopholes.
Romney did not seek re-election in 2006, focusing instead on his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.
