10:15 p.m.

A hush fell over the room of the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago as supporters of Alexi Giannoulias watched the U.S. Senate election results appear on television.

At 10:03 p.m. with 86 percent of precincts reporting, the Associated Press reported Giannoulias with 46.5 percent of the votes and Mark Kirk with 48 percent.

When one Giannoulias supporter expressed doubt at Kirk’s lead, another responded with “That’s just Fox News.”

Thomas Kadri, a 23-year-old Emory University student from London, said Giannoulias was the “obvious choice” to represent the people of Illinois.

“His youth is very inspiring to me,” Kadri said. “It helped me relate to him.”

Giannoulias is expected to speak around 10:30 p.m. or earlier.

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9:11 p.m.

Despite sporadic bursts of clapping from supporters at the Mark Kirk watch party watching other races come in, the race for U.S. Senate is still too close to call.

“I think the campaign’s been going great,” said Kirk campaign spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski. “We’re feeling confident, but we’ll have to wait and see.”

The Westin Chicago North Shore in Wheeling, Ill. is crawling with supporters and media, all on edge to see who will win the close race. At 9:17 p.m., with 62 percent of precincts reporting, the Associated Press reported Kirk held 45.9 percent of the vote while Giannoulias held 48.7 percent.

Diana Grimm, who is not involved in Kirk’s campaign, said she is hoping Kirk will win so she can become more involved in Republican politics.

“The way current affairs are going, I just feel like I should get involved in the Republican party,” she said.