U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, will be returning to the upper chamber for a third term after defeating Democratic nominee Charles Booker.
The Associated Press called the race for Paul minutes after polling locations closed in Kentucky’s central time zones.
Paul avoided debating Booker during the race, skipping out of a KET debate and staying in Washington D.C. during the annual Fancy Farm Picnic. Paul dominated the airwaves running 13 television ads, including attacking Booker for calling to defund the police in an MSNBC interview.
Despite raising $6 million for the campaign, Booker never ran ads to counter Paul’s messaging. Paul far out raised Booker with $26 million raised, according to his FEC report.
Some Democrats were excited to see a candidacy from a true progressive like Booker, who did not run from national party ideology.
Booker vowed to keep fighting on Tuesday night. He told supporters he was not conceding the election, and did not take questions from reports on scene as his election party.
