Patrick Leahy, Tim Scott, Rand Paul Re-elected

The Latest on congressional races on Election Day 2016 (all times EST):

7 p.m.

Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy has won an eighth term. He's the Senate's longest-serving member. The 76-year-old beat back a challenge from Republican businessman Scott Milne.

Leahy was first elected in 1974 from the liberal state. He's the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee and will likely chair the panel if Democrats reclaim the majority.

He says he hopes "reasonable" Republicans in the Senate will agree to perform their constitutional duty of advice and consent on judicial nominees, including the Supreme Court.

7 p.m.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Tim Scott, the South's first black senator since Reconstruction, has won his first full term.

Scott defeated Democrat Thomas Dixon, a community activist and pastor.

The Senate's only black Republican, Scott said he would vote for Donald Trump, even as he has characterized some of Trump's statements and actions as "disgusting," ''indefensible" and "racially toxic."

Scott, one of only two black senators, said on the Senate floor this summer that he has repeatedly been pulled over by law enforcement and was once even stopped by a Capitol Police officer who apparently did not believe he was a senator.

Scott, 51, was appointed to the seat in 2013 following the resignation of Sen. Jim DeMint, then won election to the final two years of that term.

7 p.m.

Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who made an early run for the presidency, instead is heading back to Washington for a second term.

Paul defeated Democrat Jim Gray, the mayor of Lexington.

Paul repeatedly clashed with Donald Trump during the GOP primary debates. He later endorsed Trump but spoke little about him while campaigning for re-election.

The candidates spent a combined $8 million on the race, a paltry sum considering the more than $47 million Kentucky's Senate candidates spent in 2014. The Senate race has been overshadowed by the presidential race and the battle for the state House of Representatives — the only legislative chamber in the South still controlled by Democrats.

5 p.m.

Control of Congress was up for grabs Tuesday as Republicans' hopes of protecting their narrow majority in the Senate rested on a handful of states that were toss-ups until the end.

Republicans were expected to retain House control amid Democratic gains that are expected to be modest.

In North Carolina and Missouri, Democrats sought to upset entrenched GOP incumbent senators. In Democratic-leaning states like Wisconsin, Illinois, Nevada, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, Democrats were trying to tie their GOP opponents to Donald Trump.

Democrats needed to pick up four seats to take the Senate majority if Hillary Clinton wins the White House and can send her vice president to cast tie-breaking votes in a 50-50 Senate. They need five seats if Trump wins.