--- title: 2014 Midterm Elections: Iowa, North Carolina Senate Races Tied description: Two key Senate races that will help determine which party controls the upper chamber are effectively tied canonical: https://time.com/3552452/iowa-north-carolina-senate-race-midterm-elections/ author: Dan Hirschhorn article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-11-01T14:48:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:49:46.691Z article:section: Politics og:title: 2014 Midterm Elections: Iowa, North Carolina Senate Races Tied og:description: Two key Senate races that will help determine which party controls the upper chamber are effectively tied og:url: https://time.com/3552452/iowa-north-carolina-senate-race-midterm-elections/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2dc9c93a8850679/698763d23c16394cb944f652/ap857890276024.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Joni Ernst og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2014 Midterm Elections: Iowa, North Carolina Senate Races Tied twitter:description: Two key Senate races that will help determine which party controls the upper chamber are effectively tied twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2dc9c93a8850679/698763d23c16394cb944f652/ap857890276024.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Key Senate Races in Dead Heat Before Election by [Dan Hirschhorn](https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Nov 1, 2014 2:48 PM UTC  Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst speaks during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Oct. 31, 2014. Republican Senate candidate Joni Ernst speaks during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Oct. 31, 2014.Nati Harnik—AP by [Dan Hirschhorn](https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/) ## Dan Hirschhorn Nov 1, 2014 2:48 PM UTC Two key Senate races that will help determine which party controls the upper chamber are [effectively tied](http://www.politico.com/story/2014/10/iowa-north-carolina-senate-races-2014-elections-112387.html?hp=l4) just days before the midterm elections, according to [new](http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/10/31/iowasenatepoll.pdf) [polls](http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2014/images/10/31/northcarolinasenatepoll.pdf). The CNN/ORC International polls of the campaigns in Iowa and North Carolina, released late Friday, found both races to be within the margin of error. In Iowa, Republican Joni Ernst holds a narrow, two-point lead over Democratic Rep. Bruce Braley for the open seat. In North Carolina, incumbent Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan is clinging to a two-point lead over Republican state House Speaker Thom Tillis.  Republicans need a net pick-up of six Senate seats to recapture the majority. Political forecasters see that as increasingly likely, but the campaign remains very close ahead of Election Day on Tuesday. Both polls had a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3552452/iowa-north-carolina-senate-race-midterm-elections/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3552452/iowa-north-carolina-senate-race-midterm-elections/"},"headline":"Key Senate Races in Dead Heat Before Election","datePublished":"2014-11-01T14:48:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:49:46.691Z","description":"No clear leader in Iowa and North Carolina","url":"https://time.com/3552452/iowa-north-carolina-senate-race-midterm-elections/","keywords":["2014 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2dc9c93a8850679/698763d23c16394cb944f652/ap857890276024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Dan Hirschhorn","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/dan-hirschhorn/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2dc9c93a8850679/698763d23c16394cb944f652/ap857890276024.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Joni Ernst","caption":"Joni Ernst","creditText":"Nati Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3552452/iowa-north-carolina-senate-race-midterm-elections/","name":"Key Senate Races in Dead Heat Before Election"}}]}] ```