The race for the Senate: Here are the top races to watch

Republicans are favored to take control of the chamber thanks to a 2024 map of races that tilts disproportionately in the GOP’s favor. Here are the races to watch.

President Joe Biden

U.S. President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address during a joint meeting of Congress in the House chamber at the U.S. Capitol on March 7. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

This story originally appeared on NPR

Republicans are favored to take control of the chamber next year thanks to a 2024 election map that has Democrats defending seven seats in conservative or swing states and on offense just two in the safe Republican states of Texas and Florida.

Democrats narrowly control the Senate 51-49 today, but with West Virginia all but certain to flip Republican after the impending retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin who registered as an independent in May.

Here are the races to watch:

Arizona

Left: Republican candidate for US Senate Kari Lake speaks at a campaign rally for former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Findlay Toyota Arena in Prescott Valley, Ariz. on Oct. 13. Right: US Representative Ruben Gallego, candidate for Senate, speaks during a Get-Out-The-Vote campaign rally in Tucson, Ariz., Oct.18. (Caitlin O’Hara/AFP via Getty Images; Rebecca Noble/AFP via Getty Images)

Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego has consistently polled ahead of Republican Kari Lake in the closing weeks of the election. Gallego has performed particularly well among Latino voters who have a large, and growing, influence in the state.

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Both parties poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the state that was considered the nexus of the battle for control of the Senate.

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