(NEW YORK) – U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has retained his seat, defeating Republican opponent Joe Pinion by 55.9% to 55.9%, claiming 3,098,907 votes with roughly 81% of the votes counted, according to The Associated Press.

Whether Schumer retains his position as Senate Majority Leader remains to be seen as a number of remaining senate races have not yet been decided. 

Re-elected for a fifth term, Schumer is now the longest-serving U.S. Senator in New York’s history having held the seat since 1999. The win comes after a particularly competitive election season for Democrats nationwide, as most party members fought to preserve their slim majority in the senate. There are presently 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans in the senate, giving Democrats the narrow majority with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie vote. Leading into the midterms, polling analysis site FiveThirtyEight found that Schumer was favored to win the election with a 55.7% to 38% projection.

“Here’s what we want to get done in the next senate: We want to protect a woman’s right to choose,” Schumer says of his re-election. 

A Brooklyn native and graduate of Harvard Law School, Schumer became the first Jewish majority leader in either chamber of congress in 2021. Prior to serving in the U.S. Congress, Schumer served three terms in the New York State Assembly and nine terms in the U.S. House of Representatives.

According to the FEC, Schumer’s campaign raised nearly $37 million this campaign cycle while Pinion had just over $444,000.

Schumer ran on some of the recent accomplishments of the U.S. Senate, such as The Inflation Reduction Act and tax incentives for green energy. “What we have going for us is what we’ve accomplished, and I think what our views are is much closer to what people believe,” Schumer said in an interview with The New Yorker. “What’s going against us is the natural, you know—the sourness in the land.”

Joe Pinion, a political commentator and host of Newsmax’s “Saturday Agenda,” is a native of the Bronx, NY. His campaign focused on the alleged failures of career politicians like Schumer, whom Pinion believes have had many opportunities to deliver to the public and little to show for their tenure. Pinion has defiantly attacked the former senator and his candidacy during the New York US Senate debate, calling Schumer an, “Exceptional politician, one of the best that has ever lived. But he’s a failed senator. He has failed the people of this state on multiple occasions.”  

Also on the ballot was independent candidate Diane Sare, who received 45,000 valid signatures in support of her candidacy, campaign volunteer Jenny Burns told The Click. She received 0.9% of the votes winning a total of 51,554.