Roy Cooper defeated former Republican National Committee chairman Michael Whatley in North Carolina, a state Donald Trump carried in all three of his presidential campaigns. (EPA Images pic)WASHINGTON: Democrats flipped a first US Senate seat Tuesday in early midterm election results that boosted their push to win control of Congress in what would be a stinging rebuke of President Donald Trump.

Popular Democratic former governor Roy Cooper defeated Trump's handpicked candidate for the Senate in North Carolina, while rising Democratic star Jon Ossoff won reelection to the Senate in Georgia, according to media projections.

The early victories for Democrats boosted the party's hopes of taking both chambers of Congress.