l Predictions (Updated) // (John Hinderaker).

While we wait for the election results to start coming in, it is a good time to make a final prediction. Scott has stated more times than once that he is a pessimist by temperament. I balance this by being a hopeless optimist. You’ll see it in my election forecast.

U.S. Senate: The GOP ends the night with 55 senators.

U.S. House: GOP wins a net 30 seats

It is obvious that the Senate and the House will be controlled by Republicans in January. The only question is their margin of victory.

Minnesota is my home state and I expect Republicans will win two more Senate seats to consolidate their control over that body. The GOP will easily take control of the chamber by grabbing between 15-18 House seats.

The primary congressional race is in my district, where Republican Tyler Kistner will oust incumbent Democrat Angie Craig.

Jim Schultz will retire Attorney General Keith Ellison in Minnesota’s constitutional elections. Ryan Wilson will defeat the Democratic incumbent as state auditor. Although the race for Secretary of State will be close, most observers believe that the Democratic incumbent holds the edge.

The governor race is the great unknown. It will also be close, likely razor thin, but I am picking Republican Scott Jensen over incumbent Tim Walz, if only to defeat Walz on so many fronts. Walz will not win if Republicans do as well in legislative races as I believe they do. This is because of the extraordinary amount of ticket-splitting required.

A month or so ago, I placed a bet on Jensen on one of the election prediction websites. The odds against him were 9:1. If he wins, I get $1,000. This is a small return in comparison to the huge benefit Minnesota will receive from a Jensen win.

Here are some examples of races found in other states

* Don’t worry, John Fetterman won’t be going to Washington.

* Tiffany Smiley will beat Patty Murray at Washington

* Lee Zeldin will become Governor of New York.

* Tudor Dixon will be a painfully close candidate for Governor of Michigan. However, he will not be elected.

* Kari Lake will absolutely sabotage Katie Hobbs in Arizona’s governor race and will bring Blake Masters to the finish line.

If you like Kari Lake as much, then this is a great place to have fun.

UPDATE: It didn’t go as I expected. It was a terrible night. Tomorrow, I will be assessing the carnage and will have more to share tomorrow. Let’s just say that there may be a silver lining. It could be that we have seen the end of Donald J. Trump.