Nebraska

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Mitt Romney carried Nebraska by a wide margin, and Republicans picked up a Senate seat as Deb Fischer, a rancher and state legislator, fought off a comeback attempt by Bob Kerrey, a former governor and senator.

Ms. Fischer ended the Democrats’ long run of beating the odds in this deep red state, capturing the seat now held by Ben Nelson, a Democrat who is retiring after two terms.

With some Tea Party support, she made a late surge in the Republican primary, scoring a startling upset over two rivals with more name recognition, more organization and far more money. The result pleased many Democrats, who recruited a much better-known candidate in Mr. Kerrey, the onetime presidential candidate and a Vietnam War veteran.

But Mr. Kerrey returned to Nebraska politics after a 12-year absence. Most of it was spent as president of the New School, an ardently liberal university in Manhattan — not a selling point for prairie conservatives — and he found the state less friendly territory than he had recalled.

Democrats’ hopes were buoyed by a recent poll showing Mr. Kerrey closing the gap, and by a surprise endorsement of their candidate by a Republican former senator, Chuck Hagel, but in the end, it was not close. Ms. Fischer won 58 percent of the vote, while Mitt Romney carried the state with more than 60 percent.

Ms. Fischer’s win ends a long run of the state electing conservative or populist Democrats to be governor or senator. It gives Republicans control of every Congressional seat and statewide office. Republicans hold all three of Nebraska’s House seats, and none were considered competitive this year.