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Republicans’ quest to gain two seats to take control of the Senate is expected to begin Tuesday night with an easy win in West Virginia. 

The GOP candidate, now-Gov. Jim Justice, is leading his Democrat challenger by nearly 34 points, according to the most recent available poll – in a deep-Red state that in 2016 and 2020 gave nearly 69% of the vote to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.  The West Virginia seat is now held by retiring Independent Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat until he left the party earlier this year.

Republicans’ second most-likely appears to be in Montana, where Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is seeking a fourth term in a state that is also is heavily Republican. He is trailing GOP challenger Tim Sheehy by about 6 percentage points, according to the latest polling average from RealClearPolling.

Other targeted pickups include Ohio, where Republican Bernie Moreno is trying to unseat incumbent Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown. However, that race a been exceedingly close the for essentially the entire election cycle and going into Election Days was is statistically tied.

If Trump wins on Tuesday night, Republicans need to flip just one seat because the vice president would cast the tie-breaking vote. If Vice President Kamala Harris wins, Democrats can afford to lose one Senate seat.

There are 34 Senate seats up for grabs, and the first polls closed at 6 p.m. Eastern Time. However, no results have trickled in so far. 

Democrats control the 100-member chamber 49 to 51, a number that includes four independents voting with them. 

They are Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Angus King of Maine, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, and Manchin, who essentially vote Democrat.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.