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The Fox News Decision Desk projects Gov. Greg Gianforte will win re-election in the Montana gubernatorial race, securing a second term in the Big Sky State seat.

Gianforte was first elected to serve as governor of Montana in 2020, flipping the seat red and ousting the Democrat who occupied the seat for several years.

Before becoming the state’s 25th governor, Gianforte was a businessman and spent decades working in the private sector.

While most of Montana’s statewide leadership are currently Republican, the state’s governor’s seat was occupied by a Democrat for nearly a decade before being flipped red in 2020 by Gianforte.

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Gianforte defeated former senior firearms sales executive and Democratic gubernatorial nominee Ryan Busse on Tuesday night.

Busse, who ran with lieutenant governor Raph Graybill, worked as sales executive of a major firearms company for 25 years, saying on his campaign site that he supports gun ownership, but “also saw how unchecked extremism risks all gun owners’ rights—and how that extremism could take away American freedoms and even jeopardize our democracy.”

The Governor was backed by former President Donald Trump in his 2020 race, but has not yet received an endorsement from the 2024 GOP presidential nominee at this point in the race.

The Democrats are expected to hold onto a highly contested Senate seat in Maryland, an overwhelmingly blue state, in a very competitive and expensive race that drew plenty of national attention.

The Fox News Decision Desk projected on Tuesday that Angela Alsobrooks, the Democrat Senate nominee and Prince George’s County executive, would defeat former two-term Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. 

Alsobrooks is projected to succeed Democrat Sen. Ben Cardin, who is retiring this year after serving nearly two decades in the Senate and nearly six decades as a state and then federal lawmaker.

A former prosecutor and ally of Vice President Kamala Harris, Alsobrooks is expected to make history as Maryland’s first Black senator, in a state where the Black population stands at around a third of the state’s total.

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The race was one of a handful across the country that could decide whether Republicans win back the Senate majority in the 2024 elections.

With Republicans enjoying a favorable Senate electoral map and Democrats trying to protect their fragile 51-49 Senate majority, Hogan’s late entry into the race in February gave Democrats an unexpected headache in a state previously considered safe territory. Hogan left the governor’s office at the beginning of 2023 with very positive approval and favorable ratings.

Hogan, a high-profile GOP critic of former President Trump – the party’s 2024 presidential nominee – made a concerted effort to highlight his ability to work across partisan lines as he aimed to court independent voters and some disgruntled Democrats in Maryland.

With a competitive contest, both campaigns, the party committees and outside groups shelled out millions of dollars in the race.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis claimed victory on Tuesday evening over the defeat of two amendments that would have, respectively, created a constitutional right to abortion and legalized recreational marijuana. 

“With polls now closed in Florida — Amendment 3 has failed. Amendment 4 has failed,” DeSantis posted to X shortly after polls closed in Florida. 

The two amendments are projected to fail, as they did not reach approval from 60% of Florida voters after polls closed at 7 p.m. in the state. 

Amendment 3 would have legalized recreational marijuana, which has increasingly been legalized in states across the nation. While on the issue of abortion, DeSantis signed The Heartbeat Protection Act into law last year, which banned most abortions after six weeks of gestation. 

This year, Florida residents voted on Amendment 4, the Right to Abortion Initiative, which works to overturn the ban. 

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Voting data on the amendments comes after Fox News Decision Desk projected earlier Tuesday that former President Donald Trump will win Florida in the general election. 

Conservative and pro-life social media users celebrated DeSantis’ victory lap over the amendments’ reported failures, calling the expected failure of Amendment 4 a “huge win for life.” 

“The demise of pro-abortion Amendment 4 is a momentous victory for life in Florida and for our entire country,” said SBA Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser in comment provided to Fox Digital Tuesday. “Thanks to Gov. Ron DeSantis, when we wake up tomorrow, babies with beating hearts will still be protected in the free state of Florida.

“The law that safeguards more than 50,000 lives annually will remain. Florida is a beacon to the places in this country which still allow abortion after the point a baby can feel pain and the model for how the pro-life movement will win future ballot measure fights. In a world where the abortion lobby has a hold of our major institutions, every Republican should take note of the leadership and courage that Ron DeSantis exhibited to expose Big Abortion’s agenda and defeat life-ending amendments,” she added. 

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“March for Life applauds the people of Florida for seeing through an onslaught of well-funded lies and rejecting the radical, destructive Amendment 4. When voters know the truth about dangerous and far-reaching abortion amendments appearing on their ballots, they reject them wholeheartedly. We are grateful to Governor DeSantis for remaining courageously steadfast in his support for the most vulnerable, including using his resources and platform to effectively combat the onslaught of disinformation from Amendment 4 backers whose massive spending advantage was not enough to get this deceptive and dangerous proposal across the finish line,” Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, said in a statement on Amendement 4 on Tuesday evening. 

Amendment 4 became a hot topic earlier in the campaign cycle, as reporters grilled Trump about how he would vote on the matter, as he is a Florida resident. 

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Trump did spark the condemnation of some pro-life conservatives for saying in August that Florida’s six-week abortion ban “is too short.” He later said that he would vote against the Florida amendment, and doubled down that abortion laws and issues should be left up to the states to decide.

“You need more time than six weeks. I’ve disagreed with that right from the early primaries. When I heard about it, I disagreed with it. At the same time, the Democrats are radical because the nine months is just a ridiculous situation,” said Trump in August. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Republicans will hold onto the governor’s office in swing state New Hampshire in what turned into the most highly contested gubernatorial election this year, a showdown that grabbed tons of national attention and outside money.

The Fox News Decision Desk projects that former Sen. Kelly Ayotte, the Republican nominee, will defeat Democratic nominee and former Mayor Joyce Craig of Manchester, New Hampshire’s largest city.

Ayotte will succeed popular GOP Gov. Chris Sununu, who decided against running for re-election after winning and serving four straight two-year terms as governor. [New Hampshire and neighboring Vermont are the only states in the U.S. that elect governors every two years.]

Ayotte, a former state attorney general who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010 before narrowly losing re-election six years later, easily defeated a crowded field of rivals in early September to win the GOP nomination, while Craig edged out Executive Councilor Cinde Warmington to capture the Democratic nomination.

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While New Hampshire traditionally holds the first-in-the-nation presidential primary, its state primary is one of the latest on the electoral calendar, which sets up a mad rush to the general election.

National Democrats spent heavily in the race, pouring in millions to target Ayotte for her Senate votes a decade ago on abortion, and for her support this year for former President Trump, whom she had disavowed in her 2016 election defeat.

Ayotte and her GOP allies also spent heavily targeting Craig over crime and homelessness during her tenure steering Manchester, which is New Hampshire’s largest city.

And pointing to neighboring Massachusetts, where Democrats control the state government and dominate the congressional delegation, Ayotte made her slogan “Don’t Mass UP NH” her campaign’s rallying cry.

Ayotte was a rising star in the Republican Party in 2016 with a burgeoning profile on national security.

But just ahead of the 2016 election, she withdrew her support for Trump over the “Access Hollywood” controversy, in which Trump in a years-old video made extremely crude comments about grabbing women without their consent.

“I cannot and will not support a candidate for president who brags about degrading and assaulting women,” Ayotte said at the time. 

Ayotte lost re-election by a razor-thin margin of just over 1,000 votes at the hands of then-Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan.

But Ayotte slightly outperformed Trump in New Hampshire, as Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton edged the White House winner by less than 3,000 votes.

Before retiring full time to New Hampshire, Ayotte stuck around Washington briefly after the end of her term, shepherding then-Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch (Trump’s first high court nominee) through his successful Senate confirmation process.

In her post-Senate career, Ayotte enjoyed a lucrative period as she served on corporate boards and in advisory roles at both public and private companies. Among them was News Corp., which at one time was the parent company of Fox News.

Ayotte during the intervening years also kept a close eye on New Hampshire politics, and would occasionally appear at Republican Party events in the state. She also continued to write opinion pieces on major state, national and international issues.

Ayotte announced her gubernatorial bid last year, after Sununu announced that he wouldn’t seek re-election in 2024.

Ayotte stayed neutral in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation presidential primary, but she endorsed Trump in early March, right after he clinched the GOP nomination.

He’ll fix the disaster over the southern border, and we’re also seeing it on the northern border, to keep the country safe,” Ayotte told Fox News Digital in a June interview.

Ayotte’s main opponent in the GOP primary, former state Senate President Chuck Morse, touted his support for Trump and spotlighted Ayotte’s past criticism of the former president.

But Trump stayed neutral in the New Hampshire Senate primary, as Ayotte crushed Morse and the rest of the GOP field.

The former president, far behind in the polls in the Granite State, also steered clear of the state in the general election and placed only the bare minimum of resources in New Hampshire. 

That meant that Ayotte, other than the strong support she received from the Republican Governors Association, was mostly on her own as she battled Craig in the general election.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The Fox News Decision Desk projected that incumbent Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz will defeat his Democratic opponent Rep. Colin Allred on Tuesday, and win a third term in the U.S. Senate. 

Cruz won his last re-election effort in 2018, beating Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke. 

Cruz has represented the Lone Star State in the upper chamber of Congress since 2013. 

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Allred represents Texas’ 32nd Congressional District in the House. 

Cruz is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School. He previously clerked for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and was solicitor general of Texas. Cruz argued nine cases before the Supreme Court. 

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Cruz sits on four Senate committees – Foreign Relations, Judiciary, Rules and Commerce, Science, and Transportation. 

Cruz won his last Senate race by about three points in 2018.

Allred, 40, a former NFL player, polled slightly behind Cruz throughout the race, but experts believed it would be close. 

No Democrat has won a statewide office in Texas in 30 years, the longest losing streak of its kind in the U.S. 

Allred, though, had ousted a Republican incumbent before – Rep. Pete Sessions in 2018. 

During his campaign, Allred emphasized his background as the child of a single mother who earned a football scholarship at Baylor University, played in the NFL and worked for the Obama administration before being elected to Congress.

Allred made headlines in January when he was among 14 House Democrats who backed a Republican resolution in Congress that criticized President Biden’s handling of the border. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News Decision Desk can report that Indiana voters chose Republican Mike Braun to be their next governor Tuesday, cementing the state’s solidly red status – even as his face-off against Jennifer McCormick had put some political observers on edge. 

In the end, Braun, who currently serves in the U.S. Senate, beat Democratic candidate McCormick, a former Indiana superintendent of public education, and Libertarian candidate Donald Rainwater. Braun will replace outgoing two-term Gov. Eric Holcomb, also a Republican. 

Braun, McCormick and Rainwater each espoused a wide range of views on reproductive rights, fighting inflation, and how best to support the growers, farmers and small business owners in the state. 

But Braun had struggled to appeal to some moderate voters, and faced a tighter-than-expected race with McCormick, a Republican-turned-Democrat who ran heavily on issues of public education and expanding women’s reproductive rights.

“The GOP is still clearly favored there but there’s been enough activity that it doesn’t seem like an average, sleepy ‘Safe’-rated contest,” analysts at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics wrote in a  pre-election blog post.

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Despite their differences, all three candidates sought to appeal to voters on key issues: Among them, lowering property taxes, increasing support for small businesses, and creating new investments and economic opportunities in the state.

Braun focused his policy plans on so-called “kitchen table” issues in a bid to attract moderate voters, such as lowering health care costs, increasing public safety, and helping Indiana farmers and growers.

His campaign has released policy proposals designed to focus on lowering taxes for homeowners and small business owners in the Hoosier State, including a reduction on taxes for certain types of equipment used by farmers and other crop producers.

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On health care, Braun’s plan had included some provisions that Republicans previously attempted and failed to pass in recent legislative sessions, including reforming prior authorization and regulations on pharmacy benefit managers. 

McCormick, the Democrat, campaigned heavily on access to abortion and education in the final months of the race. Her support for abortion rights was a stark departure from the near-ban on abortions that state lawmakers approved in 2023 – but did win her appeal among some younger, female voters.

If elected, she had pledged to appoint new Indiana Supreme Court justices that support women, immigrants, health care providers, and the LGBT+ community. 

All three also detailed plans for addressing Indiana’s affordable housing crisis, which is among the worst in the Midwest and the subject of a two-year task force. Their plans, however, were also strikingly different. While Braun is planning to look into any “burdensome state regulations” that could be behind the spike in property taxes, he has also stressed the role of businesses in the state in helping revive the local economy.

McCormick, meanwhile, had called for a $600 million tax relief plan for property owners in the state.

Rainwater introduced a proposal that seeks to cap property taxes at just 1% of the purchase price – a drastic step that would have required amending the state’s constitution. 

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Tesla and Space X CEO Elon Musk said election night he plans to continue to be active in politics through the presidential election into the 2026 midterms. 

“America PAC is going to keep going after this election — and preparing for the midterms and any intermediate elections, as well as looking at elections at the district attorney and sort of judicial levels,” Musk said on X Spaces Tuesday. 

Musk has taken an active role on the campaign trail for the former president and has helped canvass for Trump in key battleground states like Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia and North Carolina

According to its website, America PAC aims to “promote free speech, free markets, and a merit-based society.” 

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Musk made waves on the Pennsylvania campaign trail in support of Trump’s campaign, including offering $1 million a day to swing-state voters who sign his political action committee’s petition backing the Constitution.

Musk was sued by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, who called the contest an “illegal lottery” aimed at influencing the results of a presidential election.

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On Monday, a Pennsylvania judge ruled Musk could continue his efforts. 

Reuters reported Tuesday evening that Musk has also been sued in a proposed class action over the giveaway. 

Musk has given at least $118 million to America PAC, The Washington Post reported. He is expected to spend election night with the former president in Florida. 

The New York Times first reported the news, citing two people familiar with Musk’s schedule, that Musk will be among a small group of people watching the election results with Trump. 

Musk, after the first assassination attempt against Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July, wrote on X, “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery.”

Musk later appeared with Trump at a rally in Butler.

“I want to say what an honor it is to be here, and, you know, the true test of someone’s character is how they behave under fire, right?” Musk said at the beginning of his remarks. “And we had one president who couldn’t climb a flight of stairs and another who was fist pumping after getting shot.” 

Fox News Decision Desk projected that Democrat Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico will defeat Republican Senate nominee Nella Domenici in a one-time swing state that now leans blue.

Domenici, a businesswoman, was hoping to become the first Republican to win a Senate election in New Mexico in 22 years – since her father, the late Sen. Pete Domenici, in 2002, was re-elected to a sixth term.

The younger Domenici used her powerful political brand and ample name recognition in New Mexico, as she battled Heinrich. She also showcased her resume of decades of experience in the finance industry at Bridgewater Associates, where she served as chief financial officer, Credit Suisse and Citadel Investment group.

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With his re-election, Heinrich will now serve a third term representing New Mexico in the Senate.

In recent cycles, New Mexico, which was once a general election battleground, has shifted to the left and is no longer considered a crucial swing state.

President Biden carried the state by 10 points in 2020.

Additionally, Heinrich won re-election in 2018, which was a blue-wave cycle, by more than 30 points.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

The Fox News Decision Desk projects Rep. Kelly Armstrong, R-N.D., will win the North Dakota governor’s race.

Armstrong, who holds North Dakota’s lone congressional seat, defeated Lt. Gov. Tammy Miller for the Republican nomination in the primary in June after winning the party’s endorsement earlier this year. He was challenged in the general election by Democrat Merrill Piepkorn and independent candidate Michael Coachman.

Miller had won the backing of North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who had run for the Republican presidential nomination and had also been reported to be a potential running mate for former President Trump. 

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Burgum has served two terms and chose not to seek a third term. Armstrong was elected to the House in 2018 after serving in the state Senate. He is an attorney and the former state GOP chairman.

“The short answer is I want to get home and start working — I miss people. I miss my friends. I miss my neighbors. I miss being in North Dakota, I really do,” Armstrong said in an interview with The Associated Press in January. 

“Serving the state in Congress has been an absolute — the greatest — privilege of my life, but I really want to come home. I miss my friends in the Legislature. I miss the people who are more interested in solving problems than finding some mediocre social media fame.”

Republicans have held the governor’s office since 1992. A Democrat has not won a statewide election in North Dakota since 2012. Some legislative races only had Republican candidates.

Armstrong will take office in mid-December and won the backing of former President Trump, who praised Armstrong for defending him through “two SHAM impeachments.”

“Kelly Armstrong has my complete and total endorsement to be the next governor of the great state of North Dakota – HE WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,” Trump said on social media.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Republican Governor Jim Justice’s dog, beloved Babydog Justice, is headed to Washington after his owner won his Senate campaign – successfully flipping West Virginia red.

The Fox News Decision Desk has projected that Republican Gov. Jim Justice of West Virginia will defeat the Democrat Party’s nominee—Wheeling mayor Glenn Elliott.

Justice – along with his chunky companion, Babydog – first made headlines after the pair stole the shows during the Republican National Convenion (RNC) in July, with the governor entering the stage to chants of, “Babydog!”

Onlookers fawned over the English bulldog, launching the pooch to stardom. His official X account states that the pooch, “Wendy’s nuggets, riding shotgun in dad’s Suburban, and napping.”

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Now, Babydog is headed to Washington D.C. after his owner easily defeated conservative Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., in a contentious GOP primary earlier this year and then moved on to defeat his Democratic opponent, Elliott. 

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Babydog participated in his owner’s election bid, accompanying him to campaign events and meet-and-greets throughout his campaign. 

While the RNC appearance made the 5-year-old canine nationally recognized, Babydog has been a fixture in West Virginia’s political arena for some time.

In June 2024, the beloved pooch joined the ranks of Abraham Lincoln, Civil War soldiers and odes to Appalachian folk music in new murals under the West Virginia state Capitol. 

In 2022, Justice hoisted her up during his State of the State address and pointed her rear end at the camera. 

“Babydog tells Bette Midler and all those out there: Kiss her heinie,” Justice said at the event.

The move came after singer and actress Bette Middler wrote on what was then Twitter, had called West Virginians “poor, illiterate and strung out” after Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., refused to support a bill promoted by President Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress.

In 2019, Babydog encouraged West Virginia residents to participate in a COVID-19 “Do it for Babydog: Save a Life: Change Your Life” campaign.

With Justice’s victory, Republicans will control both of West Virginia’s two Senate seats for the first time in nearly a century.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and the Associated Press contributed to this report.