Fox News Decision Desk projects GOP to take back Senate majority in devastating blow to Dems

The Fox News Decision Desk predicted that Republicans will take back control of the Senate in 2025, when the 119th Congress is sworn in.

The GOP officially won enough Senate seats in the 2024 election to take back the majority from the Democrats. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has led the upper chamber since 2021.

The Republicans had a significantly more favorable map in terms of which Senate seats were up for election this cycle than the Democrats.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, left, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Getty Images)

The Republicans up for re-election were all in relatively safe states, and the party was all but guaranteed a victory in West Virginia to replace outgoing Sen. Joe Manchin, IW.Va. With a West Virginia victory and the retention of all the incumbents up for election, the GOP would already be at 50 members.

Democrats were in a much more difficult position, expecting to lose Manchin’s seat and facing a close battle for outgoing independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s Arizona Senate seat.

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Late. Joe Manchin speaks to reporters after a vote on January 23, 2024 in Washington, DC (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

At the same time, several incredibly vulnerable Democrats in the Senate happened to be up for re-election this cycle, including Montana’s Jon Tester and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, in red-voting states, and Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, Jacky Rosen of Nevada, and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, in the president’s battleground states.

If that wasn’t enough, the seat of outgoing Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., was also in serious danger of turning red.

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Tester was favored to lose his race in red Montana. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)

The Democrats had only a 51-member majority over their Republican counterparts, who had a 49-member conference.

The party could not afford to lose virtually any race in the 2024 elections due to their many vulnerabilities.

What made the 2024 election even more difficult for Democrats to hold on to the majority was the sharp decline in split-ticket voting. In several states, the races were very likely to be decided by the winner of the presidential election, as voters were expected to choose a party and vote for candidates in that column down the ballot.

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Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell arrives in the US Capitol on September 26, 2024. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)

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When Republicans vote on their new leader this month, they will also choose the next person to control the Senate after Schumer. The new GOP leader will succeed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the longest-serving party leader in Senate history.

The newly elected Republican senators will participate in a secret ballot.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more on our Fox News Digital Election Center.