Richard Burr re-elected to Senate in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C., Nov. 8 (UPI) -- North Carolina Republican Richard Burr won re-election to the U.S. Senate on Tuesday night.

Burr took about 52 percent of the vote in the race with Democrat Deborah Ross -- a win that will help the Republicans secure majority in the upper chamber.

"Thank you North Carolina!" Burr said in a tweet. "Honored to continue serving as your senator."

Burr arrived in the Senate in 2005 after having defeated Democratic incumbent and 2004 vice presidential candidate John Edwards. After two terms, now the state's senior Senate representative, he is looking to recapture his seat.

Burr has generated some chatter this year by pledging his support for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, and even saying that he is basically the same as Trump -- a comment that raised some eyebrows in his own party.

The two-term senator has taken some heat in recent weeks for a joke he made about Hillary Clinton, and for telling GOP supporters he will do everything he can to block every Supreme Court nominee if Clinton is elected -- despite the fact that just weeks ago he said, "the American people deserve a voice in the nomination of the next Supreme Court justice."

Ross, meanwhile, campaigned as a public servant of change, similar to the image Obama portrayed before his election as president in 2008.

"People are very, very excited about this election and having their voices heard," she said last month. "I think they're in a mood for a change."

Ross, who has received public support from Obama, ran her campaign on the notion that Burr is an established 11-year Washington insider who is more concerned about his own interests than those of his constituents.

The 53-year-old challenger served in North Carolina's General Assembly between 2003 and 2013.