By: Andrew Koch ~Editor-in-Chief~

The Republicans picked up six Senate seats to gain majorities in both the Senate and the House of Representatives for the first time since 2006.

While Democrats have had a majority in the Senate since the 2008 elections, Republicans were able to wrest control of the Senate by winning seven seats in Arkansas, West Virginia, South Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Iowa and North Carolina.

The GOP maintains its majority in the House, which it has held since the 2010 midterm elections.

In local races, incumbent Congressman Steve Chabot (R-OH), who represented Ohio’s 1st District from 1994 to 2007 and again from 2010 to present, was reelected by 26 points. Chabot’s district includes the cities of Cincinnati, Harrison and Cheviot, as well as much of Warren and Hamilton counties.

Incumbent Brad Wenstrup (R-OH) also won reelection in Ohio’s 2nd district, which includes the City of Norwood and much of southwestern Ohio, by a margin of 32 points.

The Greater Cincinnati area also remained under Republicans’ control, with incumbent Thomas Massie (R-KY) retaining Kentucky’s 4th District, which includes Newport, Florence and much of northern Kentucky, and Luke Messer (R-IN) being reelected in Indiana’s 6th District, which stretches across most of eastern Indiana.

In other races in Ohio, Governor John Kasich (R) defeated his Democratic and Green Party challengers to stay in office. In Ohio’s 8th District, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH), a Xavier graduate, won reelection.

In Kentucky, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) defeated Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes in a close and high-profile race. With the Republicans’ takeover of the Senate, McConnell will become the Senate majority leader.

“I work hard to bring your concerns to Washington, and I will not let up,” McConnell said in his victory speech. “Kentuckians are tired of a government that only seems to work when it’s working against them.”

Elsewhere in the country, the race remained too close to call in Louisiana, requiring a run-off in December. At time of publication, the Senate races in Alaska and Virginia had not yet been called.

While most election coverage concerned the Republican takeover of the Senate and success in House and governor offices, a number of issues in the Cincinnati area were decided by this election. Issue 8, the measure that raises Hamilton County’s sales tax to provide funding for Union Terminal’s maintenance, passed.