KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ A Republican wave swept across Missouri Tuesday, sending U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt back to Washington.
"What a great night for our state," Blunt said. " ... . The opportunity to move forward in our state just multiplied by a multiple number of times."
Blunt's challenger, Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, conceded the election after midnight. Blunt's excited GOP supporters at his watch party at the Ramada Hotel Plaza and Oasis Convention Center in Springfield, Mo., chanted "USA" as networks projected key battleground states as victories for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
"How sweet it is to win," Blunt said. " ... Great moment for our state. Great moment for our country."
Blunt, the incumbent Republican senator, was leading Kander 51 percent to 44 percent with most of the returns in from around the state.
In his concession speech, Kander kept his message positive, appealing to millennial supporters as his young staff stood behind him on stage, saying they shouldn't give up hope because of the outcome of one election.
"That's not OK. ... This country is a place you've got to stay invested in," Kander said. "This generation isn't going anywhere."
By the time Kander conceded the race, many in the Blunt crowd in Springfield, which at one point, numbered several hundred people, had begun filing out. Some remained behind, gathering in small groups and watching the live feed of cable news being played on projectors throughout the room.
Jason Carter, who was wearing a blue "Roy" sticker, said he was waiting around mainly to see what happened in the presidential race.
"I'm a little tired, but this has been a really great night," he said. "I can't leave until everything's settled."
Kander's gathering at the Uptown Theater in downtown Kansas City was home to a far more somber affair. What began as room of supporters reflecting on their underdog candidate's unexpectedly close bid quickly became grim as Trump performed better than pundits and pollsters had expected.
One Democratic supporter kissed his fingers and raised them heavenward before leaving the event. But for Democrats on Missouri's statewide ballot, a divine intervention never came, with Republicans winning the races for governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, attorney general and secretary of State.
Even with Blunt's steady lead, Kander was reluctant to concede, choosing instead to wait for the results from Kansas City to make a decision.
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., took the stage around 11:30 p.m. and quoted wisdom from his grandfather to the voters who remained. "Don't open your umbrella until it rains," he advised, insisting urban districts could still put both Kander and Clinton over the top.
Whether it involves protecting Second Amendment rights, nominating conservative Supreme Court nominees or supporting Trump in his quest for the presidency, Blunt campaigned as the best person to represent Missouri's values.
It was a race that was contentious, expensive, and going into Election Day, too close for comfort on both sides. A longtime fixture in Missouri politics, Blunt, 66, faced a strong challenge from Kander, 33, a relative newcomer without Blunt's lengthy record to defend.
Factor in Kander's military service and fundraising prowess, and his early signs of strength heightened the stakes, as national Democrats recognized a chance to unseat Blunt and perhaps win a majority in the Senate. Those chances faded, too, during the night Tuesday.
Missouri's Senate race topped $61 million in combined spending by mid-October, with $35 million of it coming from outside groups not directly affiliated with the campaigns themselves. In pivotal Senate races nationally, according to the newspaper The Hill, at least $754 million was spent on advertising in the states that will decide the control of the Senate come January.
In those ads and on campaign stops throughout the state, Blunt pointed to his ability to work with colleagues across the aisle and routinely insisted a vote for Kander was a rubber stamp for Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, both of whom are unpopular in Missouri.
But his candidacy was very often defined _ sometimes to his frustration _ by his support for Trump, who won Missouri handily.
On Election Eve, Blunt tweeted that he'd been endorsed by Trump, significant because Blunt had slightly trailed Trump's performance statewide in the Post-Dispatch's final poll of the race. He was at times critical of his party's nominee, but stood by Trump throughout his own Senate campaign, even as some of his Republican colleagues � such as Rep. Ann Wagner, R-Ballwin, flip-flopped or withdrew endorsements altogether.
While Trump's anti-Washington rhetoric may win him the White House, it might not be enough for Kander.
