Pat Toomey (Creative Commons)

Republican Pat Toomey has defeated Democrat Joe Sestak in the U.S. Senate race in Pennsylvania by a small margin, several news outlets are reporting.

Toomey led the polls through most of the race, but as Election Day approached, Sestak evened the numbers, and the candidates were tied with 46 percent each one week before the elections.

Both candidates offered quite different views, with Sestak being on the more liberal end of the Democratic spectrum and Toomey coming in on the more conservative side of the GOP.

Sestak, a U.S. Congressman and former Navy admiral, beat incumbent Arlen Specter in the Democratic primary in May, after Specter switched from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party in 2009 under pressure from Toomey, who threatened to defeat him in the GOP primary.

Reach associate news editor Taylor Freitas here. Follow her on Twitter: @taylorfreitas.

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