According to CBS News, Senator Tammy Baldwin will defeat Eric Hovde in the Wisconsin Senate race, retaining a key seat for Democrats. Even before this race was decided, Republicans had won enough seats election day to secure Control of the Senate.

The Badger State race, among the most competitive this cycle, was a tough one as the two candidates tried to portray each other as coastal elites with whom they were out of step Wisconsinites.

Baldwin, 62, was first elected to the Senate in 2012 after representing Wisconsin in the House for more than a decade. She has a long history of courting rural voters in the state – in her last campaign she won districts that had supported her Trumpdespite their progressive politics.

Hovde, 60, also sought the GOP nomination in 2012, but it went to former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who subsequently lost the election to Baldwin. As chairman and CEO of Utah-based Sunwest Bank, Hovde is one of many republican Senate candidates were recruited in part based on their ability to finance their own campaigns this cycle.

During the campaign, Baldwin portrayed Hovde as an unworldly, wealthy businessman. He campaigned on issues such as immigration and criticized Baldwin for her record in Washington.

In the final stages of the campaign, the race became increasingly personal as Republican ads made references to Baldwin's longtime partner, a financial advisor, and her business relationships. While Republicans demanded that Baldwin disclose her partner's assets, using ads to claim that Baldwin was “in bed with Wall Street” and calling her the “third senator from New York,” Democrats accused the Republican Party of cheating her try to draw attention to her sexuality. Baldwin is the first openly LGBTQ senator in history.

Meanwhile, Democrats worked to highlight Hovde's ties to California. They have also focused on a number of controversial comments from Hovde, including the claim that people in nursing homes are not eligible to vote.

The Cook Political Report rated the race as a back-and-forth leading up to Election Day and changed its rating from “lean Democratic” in early October as the state appeared to be seeking to tighten. Baldwin was considered the weakest Democratic candidate for Senate in the blue wall states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, and Hovde enjoyed some momentum late in the campaign.