Late into Tuesday evening, Decision Desk HQ called Ohio's Senate race in favor of Republican nominee J.D. Vance. He was running against Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH) to replace retiring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), who had endorsed the fellow Republican.
The race was called at 11:03pm. With an estimated 96 percent of the vote in, Vance leads with 53.44 percent of the vote to Ryan's 46.56 percent.
Decision Desk HQ projects J.D. Vance (R) wins election to the U.S. Senate in Ohio.#DecisionMade: 11:03pm EST
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 9, 2022
Follow more results here: https://t.co/ogd3AkeoyM pic.twitter.com/lmkkUm1ZEV
Vance had given impressive debate and town hall performances, while Rep. Ryan came off as desperate during each debate and the Fox News town hall. The Democrat, who tried to portray himself as "an independent voice for Ohio," also couldn't escape the fact that he had voted with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) 100 percent of the time.
Despite his loyalty to the Democratic leadership, regardless of what the congressman tried to portray to be the case, Ryan was largely abandoned by his party in the race. While MSNBC's Joy Reid admitted as much claimed it was the reason she predicted Ryan would lose, as he did, it's hardly the only reason why he lost.
Joy Reid is trying to make the case that Democrats abandoned Tim Ryan in Ohio this whole cycle and that’s why he’ll lose. MSNBC is fun!
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) November 9, 2022
Forecasters and polls favored Vance, especially towards the end of the race which was considered a "Lean Republican" race across the board.
Vance's win is a big victory for former President Donald Trump as well, who endorsed Vance in April and campaigned for him several times, including on the night before the election.
During his victory speech in Columbus, Vance acknowledged fellow statewide Republicans he won, including Gov. Mike Dewine, who was elected handily to his second-term. Decision Desk HQ called the race much earlier in the evening for DeWine, who beat Democratic nominee Nan Whaley. With 96 percent of the vote in, DeWine has 62.88 percent of the vote to Whaley's 37.12 percent of the vote.