NEW: Sheldon Whitehouse Holds on to U.S. Senate Seat

NEW: Sheldon Whitehouse Holds on to U.S. Senate Seat

Democratic U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse has won re-election over Republican Barry Hinckley as Senate Democrats nationwide attempt to keep control of the upper chamber, the Associated Press is reporting.

Whitehouse, who upset former Republican Senator and now Independent Governor Lincoln Chafee in 2006, held a significant financial edge over Hinckley throughout the race and never saw his lead in the polls drop to under 20 points in any of the WPRI or Brown University polls released in recent months.

Running for the first time, Hinckley impressed with strong debate performances near the end of the campaign and managed to raise more than $1 million for the race, but the Republican struggled to gain the name recognition needed to pull of what would have been on the nation's biggest upsets.
 

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