Republican front-runner David Perdue fended off a challenge from dark horse Senate candidate Michelle Nunn in Georgia, putting an end to a race that many expected to go to a runoff.
CNN and CBS News called the race for the Georgia businessman, emboldening Republicans who feared an upset in the Peach State.
Perdue maintained an advantage over Nunn largely because many Georgia voters saw her as an extension of President Obama, who is widely unpopular in the state.
The Republican had been tripped up by many of the same issues that vexed Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2012. Nunn portrayed Perdue as a corporate raider who had no reservations outsourcing American jobs.
Perdue countered that Nunn would simply fall in line with Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Obama were she elected to the Senate.
Even with the late optimism in the Senate contest, some Democrats privately admitted that Georgia could not realistically flip a seat in the upper chamber until 2020 at the earliest.
