PENNSYLVANIA - John Fetterman will bring his Pennsylvania brand of Rust Belt progressivism to Washington after defeating Republican television celebrity Mehmet Oz in one of the country’s hardest fought Senate contests. 

The win, projected by NBC and Fox News, flips the seat now held by retiring Republican Senator Patrick Toomey. 

For Mr Fetterman, the election represents a personal as well as a political triumph.

The 53-year-old lieutenant governor suffered a stroke days before the Democratic primary in May, and returned to the campaign trail in August after intensive speech therapy.

He relied on closed captioning to conduct press interviews and his one debate against Mr Oz, where a rocky performance sparked fresh questions about his health. 

Mr Fetterman held on despite seeing a double-digit lead evaporate in the final weeks of the campaign.

Mr Oz, 62, is a heart surgeon known for hosting “The Dr. Oz Show” for almost 13 years.

Backed by former president Donald Trump, Oz used US$21 million (S$29 million) of his own money and more than US$71 million in advertising from the super-PAC affiliated with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and other outside GOP groups to attack Mr Fetterman for being “soft on crime” and too liberal on economic policies.

Pennsylvania’s significance was on display this past weekend as President Joe Biden and former presidents Trump and Barack Obama descended on the state for rallies.

Sidelined for three months, Mr Fetterman fought his campaign as much on social media as in the US$171 million in television ads that dominated the state’s airwaves – the second most expensive race in the nation, after Georgia’s Senate contest.

There was another win for the Democrats in Pennsylvania - this time for Josh Shapiro who clinched the state’s governorship, Edison Research projected.

He defeated a Republican who repeated false claims of voting fraud in a presidential battleground state where the governor appoints the official who oversees elections.

Mr Shapiro, the state’s attorney general, beat Republican state Senator Doug Mastriano, who has echoed Mr Trump’s false claims about voting fraud and was present at the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021 - the day of a deadly riot - to protest the results of the 2020 presidential election.

It was one of 36 state governor’s races held in the US midterm elections on Tuesday, with the future of abortion rights and election oversight at stake in competitive contests around the country.

The high stakes brought increased money and attention to the state-level races, which often get overshadowed in midterm elections by the fight for control of Congress.

The Democratic Party picked up governorships in Massachusetts and Maryland with history-making candidates, while Republican incumbents cruised to victories in marquee races in Florida and Texas, Edison Research projected.

In Massachusetts, Democratic Attorney General Maura Healey became the first woman to ascend to that state’s highest office, where she also will be the country’s first openly lesbian governor.

Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was Mr Trump’s White House press secretary, was elected as Arkansas’ first woman governor.

Another barrier was broken in Maryland, where Democrat Wes Moore became the state’s first African American candidate to win an election for governor.

In New York state, where Republicans last won 20 years ago, Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul survived a challenge from a Republican Lee Zeldin, who campaigned hard on the issue of crime.

Republican incumbents sailed to victory in Georgia, Texas and Florida, states where Democrats had hoped to be more competitive if not pick one off.

Georgia’s Republican governor, Mr Brian Kemp, prevailed against Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams in a rematch of their 2018 race. Abrams’ strong run four years ago made her a Democratic star nationally, but Mr Kemp was ahead by 8 percentage points with 91 per cent of the projected vote counted.

In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott won a third term by defeating Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke, a former US congressman who became a national Democratic figure after a close loss in a Senate race four years ago and a run for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis coasted to re-election, defeating Democratic challenger Charlie Crist by nearly 20 percentage points with 98 per cent of the expected vote counted.

Mr DeSantis, 44, is expected to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024. That likelihood has drawn the ire of Republican former president Donald Trump, 76, who has nicknamed him “Ron De-Sanctimonious”.

Mr Trump has said he will make a major announcement next Tuesday, when he is widely expected to declare his candidacy. REUTERS