

North Carolina Republican senatorial candidate and state House Speaker Thom Tillis (left) talks to the media after a debate at Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., Tuesday, April 22, 2014. He faces incumbent Democratic Sen. Key Hagan (right) in the North Carolina Senate race. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton)
Republican Thom Tillis has defeated incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan in the North Carolina Senate race, giving the GOP another net pickup in their new majority. The razor thin margin began to widen for Tillis after Hagan’s margin in Wake County fell under 56 percent of the vote.
Hagan was widely expected to eke out a win by pundits and prognosticators, but ultimately, 51 percent of North Carolinians said she was too much in lock-step with President Obama, according to exit polling.