WASHINGTON - Republican Pat Toomey won a U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania over Democrat Joe Sestak, ABC news projected on Wednesday, taking a seat from Democrats who will face a narrower majority in the chamber.
Toomey, a fiscal conservative who had the backing of the Tea Party movement, led for much of the race and hit Sestak hard over the struggling economy in a state that was once dominated by industrial manufacturers.
Sestak, who beat incumbent Senator Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary, had key support from labor unions and got a brief boost from rallies with President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the final weeks of the race.
While Pennsylvania is a state fairly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, the Republican victory in this race could be a sign of how hard Obama will have to campaign there during his 2012 re-election bid.
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