Republicans have recaptured the U.S. Senate, with victories in West Virginia and Ohio on Tuesday, ensuring Donald Trump’s party controls at least one chamber of Congress. 

The two swing states now are going to Mr Trump, significantly narrowing incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris’ path to victory.

Republicans secured control of the Senate with crucial wins: Bernie Moreno in Ohio, Jim Justice in West Virginia, and Deb Fischer, who held on to her seat in Nebraska.

It is the first time in history that the Senate will have two Black women serving simultaneously: Lisa Blunt Rochester in Delaware and Angela Alsobrooks in Maryland, both of whom are Democrat members.

The Republican posted early gains as the party battled to retain control of the House of Representatives, the New York Times reports.

The results ensured Republicans could help Mr Trump appoint conservative judges and other government personnel if he is declared the winner of the presidential race.

However, Georgia, a state that Mr Trump narrowly lost in 2020, and North Carolina, a state he narrowly won, moved into the win column for the former president.

It also gave him the first two battleground states in one of the most consequential presidential elections in modern American history.

Republican Jim Justice was projected to win an open Senate seat in West Virginia shortly after polls closed, taking over the seat previously held by Joe Manchin, a Democrat turned Independent.

In Ohio, Republican Bernie Moreno was projected to defeat incumbent Democrat Sherrod Brown.

The two victories ensured Republicans will hold at least a 51-49 majority in the Senate, with further gains possible as results in other competitive races come in.

In the presidential race, the so-called blue wall states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin – remain too close to call.

All three would be crucial to Ms Harris’s bid to become the first woman elected president.

By locking down the Southeast, Mr Trump took a leap toward making history as the first president in more than 120 years to return to the White House after being ousted four years before.

Though the election is not decided yet, Mr Trump is already showing strength across the country, winning states like Texas and Florida comfortably.