Democrats to retain control of U.S. Senate: media

This photo taken on Nov. 9, 2022 shows the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.. Democrats will retain control of the U.S. Senate in the new Congress as some media outlets called the Nevada race on Saturday night.(Xinhua/Liu Jie)

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 (Xinhua) -- Democrats will retain control of the U.S. Senate in the new Congress as some media outlets called the Nevada race on Saturday night.

CNN and NBC News have both projected Democratic incumbent Senator Catherine Cortez Masto to defeat Republican candidate Adam Laxalt.

Despite Georgia's contest heading to a runoff next month, Democrats will at least control 50 seats in the 100-member Senate in the next two years while Republicans will at least have 49 others, according to media projections.

The upper chamber of the U.S. Congress is currently divided 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast the tie-breaking vote in favor of Democrats.

The control of the U.S. House of Representatives is also up for grabs with 20 races still undetermined.

As of Saturday night, Republicans are projected to have won 211 out of all 435 House seats versus 204 for Democrats, who have a slim majority this term.

The new Congress will convene for the first time on Jan. 3, 2023.

In this year's midterm elections, 36 out of 50 states, as well as three U.S. territories, elected governors. Numerous other state and local elections were also contested.