Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly will win a full six-year term, CNN projects, defeating Republican Blake Masters, a venture capitalist backed by former President Donald Trump who has repeated some of his lies about the 2020 elections.   

  The victory for Kelly, who was elected in 2020 to fill the term of the late GOP Sen. John McCain, is a crucial victory that brings Democrats a step closer to their goal of retaining control of the US Senate — which would it was an amazing feat Given President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings and the unfavorable economic climate that seemed to be driving the GOP.   

  With Kelly’s victory in Arizona, Democrats will hold 49 seats and Republicans will hold 49. With the Arizona seat in their column, Democrats will need to win just one more seat to retain their upper house majority, after their pickup in Pennsylvania where Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat, defeated Trump-backed Mehmet Oz in the race to replace retiring Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.  (The Senate is currently split 50-50, but Vice President Kamala Harris is voting against the tie.)   

  Both parties are still watching an incredibly close race in Nevada, where Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto is trying to fend off a challenge from Republican Adam Laxalt, the state’s former attorney general.  Democrats are also defending a seat in Georgia, where Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herchel Walker are headed for a Dec. 6 runoff, according to CNN projections.   

  Control of the US House still hangs in the balance, but it’s clear that even if Republicans win a majority, it will be a much slimmer edge than GOP leaders had hoped.   

  Kelly entered the 2022 cycle well-positioned to weather the headwinds facing Democrats — even in a purple state like Arizona that Joe Biden narrowly won — because of his formidable fundraising and unique personal brand as a retiree. astronaut, Navy veteran and wife of former Representative Gabby Giffords.   

  As votes were counted in Arizona, Masters’ campaign team had hoped that an unusually large batch of mail-in ballots dropping into polling places on Election Day would favor Republicans.  Those ballots in Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, took longer to count than those cast in person on Tuesday because officials had to verify signatures on ballot envelopes.   

  In a call with reporters Friday afternoon, Masters campaign advisers argued that Masters had a path to victory.  “We always knew it was going to be a close race,” said one campaign official.  “Smart observers watching this fight know it’s too close to call.  It will probably drop to 10,000 votes either way.  And we feel good, we have a way to go.”   

  But eventually as the counts continued, Kelly opened up a lead that Masters couldn’t overcome.   

  Earlier in the race, Masters, a first-time candidate, was able to navigate the GOP primary gauntlet with significant financial support from conservative tech billionaire Peter Thiel, his former boss.  He appealed to Republicans by promising to prioritize immigration, but also repeating Trump’s lies about the 2020 election. In a campaign video released last year, he said he believed Trump won.   

  Masters then appeared to be setting his tone on the 2020 election results as well as the conservative positions he had pursued during the primary on abortion — in what initially appeared to be an effort to appeal to a wider electorate of Arizona.  (Although Republicans form a plurality in Arizona, independents make up about a third of the electorate and often sway close elections.)   

  After his primary victory in August, Masters blasted his website for language that included the false claim that the election was stolen.  Asked by the moderator during a discussion with Kelly, Masters admitted he had seen no evidence of fraud in the 2020 vote count or election results in a way that would have changed the outcome.  In that debate and on the trail, Kelly had argued that the “wheels” could “come off our democracy” if election naysayers like Masters were elected.   

  But Masters appeared to reverse course after receiving a phone call from Trump urging him to “step up” the election denial, a conversation captured in a Fox documentary.  In the final week of the campaign, Masters told CNN’s Kyung Lah that he didn’t think moderates were bothered by his comments about the 2020 election, insisting that voters were far more focused on their concerns about inflation, crime and borders.   

  Throughout the campaign, Kelly portrayed Masters as an extremist who would jeopardize abortion rights, as well as Social Security and Medicare.  In a state where lawmakers passed a new ban on abortions at 15 weeks earlier this year — and where legal efforts are underway to ban abortions in nearly all cases — Kelly’s campaign has maintained a relentless focus on Masters’ anti-abortion positions.   

  Masters had said he would support a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks, a proposal proposed by South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham.  This bill includes exemptions for rape, incest and to protect the life of the mother.