US election 2020: Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham re-elected in blow to Democrats' Senate hopes

Republican senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham have fought off well-funded challengers in a major blow to the Democrats' chances of taking control of the Senate.

Democrats had spent some $125 million (£96.15 million) in what appears to have been the vain hope of dislodging two of the most crucial supporters of Donald Trump – Mr McConnell marshalling his agenda in the Senate, and Mr Graham acting as a loyal ally in the media.

But according to early results on Tuesday, the incumbents had won re-election in Kentucky and South Carolina.

Republicans are on course to retain control of the Senate – but Democrats have more than one route to secure the three or four seats needed to capture the majority for the first time in a decade.

Mr Graham, 65, was in the fight of his political life against Jamie Harrison, whose campaign stunned Washington by drawing more than $100 million in small-scale donations – more money than any candidate for the Senate in US history.

But the three-term incumbent – who shifted from being an early critic of Mr Trump to a firm devotee – eventually hit a similar fundraising mark after making pleas for cash during TV appearances.

Mr Harrison, a black 44-year-old former lawyer and schoolteacher, earned comparisons to Democrat poster boy Beto O'Rourke, the charismatic former congressman who threatened to unseat Ted Cruz in Texas in the 2018 midterms.

But the record-breaking funding and high-profile endorsements would not be enough. With almost 60 per cent of precincts reporting, Mr Graham, chairman of the Senate committee, held a commanding 12 percentage point lead over Mr Harrison.

Mr Graham's victory came just weeks after he shepherded Mr Trump's nomination of appeals court Judge Amy Coney Barrett to succeed the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Rob Godfrey, a long-time adviser to former South Carolina Republican governor Nikki Haley, predicted that the Democrats' efforts in the ruby red state would end up being a boondoggle.

He told Tthe Telegraph Mrs Barett's hearing, taking place weeks before the election, had given Mr Graham a boost among socially conservative voters in the southern state.

Meanwhile, in Kentucky, Mr McConnell, the Senate majority leader, fended off Democrat Amy McGrath, a former fighter pilot, in a costly campaign but acknowledged that his GOP colleagues faced tougher races.

The six-term 78-year-old Republican had touted his reputation as "the most conservative leader of either party in the history of the Senate" in his bid for re-election.

The Democrats have so far taken one seat from the Republicans in Colorado, where John Hickenlooper, the state's former governor, has picked off incumbent senator Cory Gardner.

Several Democrats were re-elected including Dick Durbin of Illinois, Mark Warner in Virginia and Ed Markey, who survived a primary challenge in Massachusetts. Chris Coons kept the Delaware seat once held by Joe Biden, defeating a Republican who had previously promoted the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory.

Among Republicans, John Cornyn in Texas, Tommy Tuberville in Alabama, Tom Cotton in Arkansas, Ben Sasse in Nebraska, Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia and James Inhofe in Oklahoma won.