Tennessee Republicans Make History, Take Majority Control Of House & Senate

It's looking pretty good if you're a Republican or a history buff, and not so good if you're a Democrat.

In the Tennessee Senate, where we started the night split 16 Republicans and 16 Democrats with one independent.  The trends show, if you add those with leads at 11:00pm to those who've already won, Republicans would take a 19 to 14 majority.

State Senator Bo Watson, who was not up for re-election tonight, says it's a big deal.  "The way our Constitution is established is the majority party in both Houses combined will elect the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Treasury, the Comptroller, we'll control the Election Commission and name the Commissioner of the Election Commission. That has never happened in Tennessee history that the Republicans have had that ability."

The Independent in the Senate is former Republican Mike Williams, who appears to have lost his seat to a Republican by 246 votes.

Another race of note, in District 26, the long held Democratic seat of former Lt. Governor John Wilder will likely go to Republican Dolores Gresham, who holds a 10-point lead with nearly 90% of the votes in.

Now, let's look at the House trends.  If you add those with leads at 11:00pm to those who've already won, Republicans would take majority control with at least 50 of the 99 seats.  Results from 4 races had yet to trickle in.

This marks the first time since Reconstruction that Republicans have gained control of both chambers.