KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Republican Sen. Roy Blunt has won a second term in Missouri as Democratic challenger Jason Kander conceded early Wednesday.

With thewin, Republicans claim to at least 51 seats, and thus control of the Senate

The contest between Blunt, a 20-year congressional veteran, and Kander, Missouri’s secretary of state, did not start out high on either party’s list of competitive Senate races in a state Donald Trump won easily.

But Kander, a 35-year-old Afghanistan veteran, proved to be a smart and aggressive campaigner, challenging Blunt’s attempts to brand him a liberal by running an ad in which he assembles an AR-15 rifle blindfolded and describes his combat service.

Kander also sought, unapologetically, to exploit the outsider mood that’s propelled Trump to the fore, criticizing the 66-year-old Blunt as a Washington insider who is part of a failed system. Blunt’s wife and his two sons are lobbyists, including former Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt.

Bill Puett says he’s surprised and humbled by the support he received from voters in his win in the Buchanan County Sheriff’s race.

“It’s very hard to explain,” Puett said, “but I’m very appreciative for all the support and votes.”

In the three-way race for Sheriff, Puett, who is currently the undersheriff, won by a sizable margin, nearly doubling each of his opponents’ vote totals.

The Republican drew 17,503 votes, or 49.37 %. Democrat Ron Fisher won 8,959 votes (25,27%) while Independent Pat Grove took third with 8,948 (25.24%).

“It was surprising,” he said, “of course not being a very good politician, not knowing how all this stuff goes, yeah, it was surprising.”

On at least one issue, Puett agreed with his opponents, that the department needs more deputies patrolling out in the county.

“I absolutely agree that we could use some more deputies,” he said. “The issue, obviously, is resources to get that.”

“We’re going to look at everything from the top down, try to use technology, and streamline resources and those type of things, to hopefully develop some funding to put some deputies out on the road, and in investigative roles.”

He does not expect to implement any wholesale changes when he takes over the department.

“Absolutely not. I’ve been saying from the start ‘change with purpose.'”

“We’ll examine everything and see if there’s ways to improve things, and use technology or new practices to streamline certain activities, and if we can, and if we can save money, or make things move better and faster and serve the community better, then we’ll do that, and then reallocate those resources,” he said.

He also said he does not expect to make any big personnel changes in the Sheriff’s Department.

“Right now we’re going to have a transition team, and obviously we’re going to talk to every employee and we’re going to evaluate every position. Nobody will lose their jobs. There’s nothing like that. Everybody is a valuable asset,” Puett said.

“We have a great team. They work very hard.”

Sixth District Missouri Congressman Sam Graves had a big lead in early returns from Tuesday’s election.

According to the Missouri Secretary of State’s Office, with 253 of 472 precincts reporting, Graves was carrying more than 71% of the votes.

The Tarkio Republican had garnered 91,788 votes, or 71.685%. Democrat David Blackwell collected 31,871 votes (25.989%). Libertarian Party candidate Russ Lee Monchil had 2,865 votes (2.238%). Green Party candidate Mike Diel had 1,519 votes or 1.186%

Graves has served in the House of Representatives since 2001.

Voters in Maryville approved a 5% hotel/motel guest tax to help fund a new multipurpose complex on campus at Northwest Missouri State University.

According to results from the Nodaway County Clerk’s Office, 2,156 voters said “yes,” compared to 1,659 voting “no.” That’s a 53% to 41% margin.

In other election results, Nodaway County will have a new sheriff soon. Republican Randy Strong ousted incumbent Democrat Darren White by a 52 to 45% margin.

The final tally was 5,049 voting for Strong, and 4,386 for White.

The proposed $20 million Northwest Multipurpose Center would also provide space on campus for off-season athletic training.

City officials estimate the tax would generate about $215,000 per year. Tax funds would pay off about 17% of the $20 million facility and would also fund tourism and marketing efforts in the city. The university hopes to get private donations and other sources to pay for the remaining $16.5 million during the school’s capital campaign.

Northwest Missouri State President Dr. John Jasinski told the Maryville City Council in August that the center represents the largest public/private partnership in the 111-year history of the university.

Here are the unofficial results for DeKalb County with all precincts reporting.

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Out of 52,059 registered voters in Buchanan County, 36,222 cast ballots in Tuesday’s election, a turnout of 69.58%. County Clerk Mary Baack-Garvey had predicted 85% and ordered ballots to cover 100%.

Here are the final, unofficial results:

In a three-way race for Sheriff, current Undersheriff Bill Puett won by a sizable margin, nearly doubling his opponents’ vote totals. The Republican drew 17,503 votes, or 49.37 %. Democrat Ron Fisher won 8,959 votes (25,27%) while Independent Pat Grove took third with 8,948 (25.24%).

In the race for Circuit Judge, Republican David Bolander beat the Democratic candidate Gary Myers by a margin on 19,394 to 15,336, or 55.7% to 44.08%.

For Eastern District Commission in Buchanan County, Republican Scott Burnham beat Democrat Tom Archdekin, 12,379 to 5,995 votes (67.29% to 32.59%).

Democrat Ron Hook was unopposed in his reelection bid to the Western District Commissioner’s seat.

Democrat John Nash was unopposed in his run for County Treasurer.

Scot Vanmeter easily won reelection to the County Assessor’s office, carrying 61.16% of the vote. Republican Jeff King carried 13,452 or 38.73%.

In the Public Administrator’s race, Democrat Megan Kennedy Stickley beat Republican Annette Bertelsen by a vote of 19.063 to 15,208 (55.55% to 44.32%)

In Caldwell County, Republican Jonathan Abbott won a tight race for Eastern District County Commissioner. Abbott beat Democrat Donnie Cox by nine votes.

The final tally, according to the unofficial final numbers from the Caldwell County Clerk’s Office, was 990 votes for Abbott and 981 for Democrat Donnie Cox. That’s 50.08% to 49.62%, or .46 of a percent.

Gerald “Mac” McBrayer was unopposed in his run for Western District Commissioner.