But the Republicans have wrestled control after making gains in elections overnight.
With eight seats yet to be declared, the Republicans have 51 seats in the Senate and the Democrats have 40.
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Independent candidate Bernie Sanders, who sits with the Democratic caucus, has been projected to win a fourth term representing Vermont.
Among the Republicans’ gains were Trump-backed Bernie Moreno, who flipped a seat in Ohio which had been held by the Democrats since 2007.
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Another gain was in West Virginia where Jim Justice won a seat that was left vacant after independent senator and former Democrat Joe Manchin’s retirement.
All 435 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower house, are also up for grabs.
The Republicans’ gains in the Senate come as Donald Trump has been projected to win several key battleground states in the race to the White House, closing in on a second presidential term.
He declared victory in a speech to supporters in Florida, while Kamala Harris will not speak until later on Wednesday.
Former US president Bill Clinton is in hospital in Washington DC after developing a fever.
Mr Clinton, 78, has been admitted to MedStar Georgetown University Hospital for “testing and observation”.
Angel Ureña, the 42nd president’s deputy chief of staff, told Sky’s US partner network NBC News he is in “good spirits and grateful for the care he is receiving”.
Another source close to Mr Clinton said the situation is “not urgent”.
“The former president will be fine,” the source added. “He developed a fever and wanted to be checked out. He is awake and alert.”
Mr Clinton was active on the campaign trail in support of vice president Kamala Harris this year and has also been promoting his book Citizen.
The former president, who served two terms from January 1993 until January 2001, also addressed the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this summer.
Since leaving office, Mr Clinton has undergone two heart operations in New York – having a quadruple bypass operation in 2004, and two stents inserted into a coronary artery in 2010.
He was also in hospital for six days in 2021 with a urological infection that spread to his bloodstream.
Matt Gaetz, who was briefly Donald Trump’s nominee for US attorney general, paid women for sex, including with a 17-year-old girl, and used drugs while he was a member of Congress, a committee has said.
The House Ethics Committee’s report concluded there was “substantial evidence” that the former Florida congressman violated House rules, state and federal laws, and other standards of conduct banning prostitution, statutory rape, illicit drug use, and obstruction of Congress.
And the committee accused the 42-year-old of accepting gifts of luxury travel in excess of permissible limits with a trip to the Bahamas in 2018.
The House of Representatives panel wrote: “From 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz made tens of thousands of dollars in payments to women that the Committee determined were likely in connection with sexual activity and/or drug use.”
The Republican, who denies any wrongdoing, had sought a restraining order against the committee in a bid to halt the release of its report summarising its investigation.
The filing accused the committee of an “unconstitutional” attempt “to exercise jurisdiction over a private citizen through the threatened release of an investigative report containing potentially defamatory allegations, in violation of the committee’s own rules”.
Mr Gaetz said his selection was “unfairly becoming a distraction” to the transition of Mr Trump’s administration into the White House.
The Florida Republican had faced scrutiny over previous sex trafficking allegations which were investigated by the department he had been picked by the president-elect to lead.
Mr Gaetz was re-elected to the House of Representatives in November this year but resigned after Mr Trump nominated him as attorney general.
The 37-page House report said: “From at least 2017 to 2020, Representative Gaetz regularly paid women for engaging in sexual activity with him.
“In 2017, Representative Gaetz engaged in sexual activity with a 17-year-old girl. During the period 2017 to 2019, Representative Gaetz used or possessed illegal drugs, including cocaine and ecstasy, on multiple occasions.”
‘Sex with 17-year-old girl’
The ethics panel received testimony that Mr Gaetz had sex with a 17-year-old girl, described in the report as Victim A.
It said: “Victim A recalled receiving $400 in cash from Representative Gaetz that evening, which she understood to be payment for sex.
“Victim A said that she did not inform Representative Gaetz that she was under 18 at the time, nor did he ask her age.”
Mr Gaetz was investigated by the Justice Department for three years over sex trafficking allegations. No criminal charges were brought.
The ethics panel said there was not enough evidence that Mr Gaetz violated the federal sex trafficking statute.
All of the women who testified said the sexual encounters with Mr Gaetz were consensual.
‘I feel violated’
However, one woman told the committee that the use of drugs at the parties and events they attended may have “impair[ed their] ability to really know what was going on or fully consent”.
Another woman told the committee: “When I look back on certain moments, I feel violated.”
The suspect accused of fatally shooting the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare has pleaded not guilty to 11 murder and terror charges.
Authorities say Luigi Mangione shot dead Brian Thompson as he was walking to an investor conference in midtown Manhattan on the morning of 4 December.
The 26-year-old was formally charged last week by the Manhattan district attorney with multiple counts of murder, including murder as an act of terrorism.
Mangione was detained in a Pennsylvania McDonald’s after a five-day search, carrying a gun that matched the one used in the shooting and a fake ID, police said.
He was extradited from Pennsylvania on Thursday and quickly rushed to New York City.
As well as this state trial, he also faces a federal charges. The two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, prosecutors have said.
Mangione is being held in a Brooklyn federal jail alongside several other high-profile defendants, including Sean “Diddy” Combs and Sam Bankman-Fried.
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This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.