By press time, three members of the important House  Financial Services Committee – including Shelley Moore Capito, a subcommittee chairman – had won their bids for seats in what will be a Republican-led Senate in the 114th Congress.

In all, Republicans clinched at least seven new seats. Capito, who won against Democratic challenger Natalie Tennant, becomes the first woman elected a U.S. senator for the state of West Virginia and the first Republican to do that in more than 50 years.

This year, Capito completes her seventh consecutive term in the House, where she chairs the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit. In that role, she has championed the concerns of credit unions, community banks and small businesses over the growth of regulatory burden under the Dodd-Frank Act.

Also winning Senate bids last night were Reps. Gary Peters, D-Mich., and Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. Peters defeated former Michigan Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land, a Republican; and Cotton won over sitting Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark.

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