Ballots are Still counting In key states, the balance of Congress remains unclear after Tuesday’s midterms, leaving blockbuster races undecided.
- How is the balance of Congress?: Democrats heaved a sigh of relief by avoiding major losses (as some predicted) and Republicans are still on track to take the House. But the Senate is closer.
- What big races are we waiting for?: All eyes are on Nevada and Arizona, where votes are still being counted in key Senate races that could determine whether Democrats retain Senate control. GOP Rep. Dozens of House races are still undecided, including a nail-biter in Lauren Bobert’s Colorado district. Some gubernatorial races are also up for grabs, including Arizona, which is going after Democrat Katie Hobbs.
- Alaska and Georgia Senate decisions to await: If Republicans win Senate races in Nevada and Arizona, it all comes down to Georgia, where the Senate is Democratic. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker, a pro-Trump Republican, will face off in a December 6 run-off. Republican vs. Republican In Alaska, Trump backs Kelly Shibaka and Sen. The match between Lisa Murkowski goes to another count.
Here’s the latest:
Katie Hobbs leads Arizona’s Governor’s race over Cary Lake
Katie Hobbs, the Democratic candidate for governor of Arizona, Thursday saw little growth over his Republican rival, though the number of votes left to count was so significant that it promised to see more on the fringes of the race.
Hobbs, the secretary of state and former legislator, had a massive lead of more than 180,000 votes when early counts were released Tuesday night. That was a few thousand lower than GOP challenger and former TV news anchor Gary Lake early Wednesday morning, but widened slightly later that evening.
He widened the gap to more than 1 percentage point by Thursday evening as precincts continued to report early vote counts, including a large one in Maricopa County.
— Stacey Barzenger, Arizona Republic
‘Lesser of two evils’:Why voters in Pennsylvania favored Democrats in midterm elections tipped for the GOP
Democrats have a narrow lead in Arizona
PHOENIX – Democrats held their narrowest leads in key Arizona contests on Thursday, but the races for the U.S. Senate and governor still had a fifth of the total votes left to be counted.
Democratic Senate. Mark Kelly leads Republican Blake Masters by 5.6 percentage points, while Democrat Katie Hobbs has a 1.4-point lead in the governor’s race against Republican Gary Lake. Democrats also led the races for secretary of state and attorney general.
Election officials in metro Phoenix and Maricopa County, which covers more than 60% of the electorate, are expected to begin announcing results Friday from a critical mass of nearly 300,000 mail-in ballots returned on Election Day. That group has shifted dramatically in recent election cycles, from strongly Democratic in the 2018 midterms to strongly Republican in 2020.
– Jonathan J. Cooper, Associated Press
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Alaska Senate race heads to second count
With 100% of precincts reporting in Alaska, Sen. Neither Lisa Murkowski nor pro-Trump Republican challenger Kelly Shibaka received more than 50% of the vote.
That means, under the state’s ranked-choice voting system, the lowest vote-getters based on the order or preference of votes cast Tuesday are eliminated and the votes are recounted and votes are redistributed to the remaining candidates. The process is repeated until someone gets more than 50%.
After the first round, Murkowski received 42.84%, while Shibaka received 44.22%.
– Donovan Slack
History is made by:Wes Moore was elected Maryland’s first black governor; Maxwell Frost brings General Z home
Georgia Runoff Election: Sen. Will President Joe Biden campaign for Raphael Warnock?
President Joe Biden stayed away from Georgia ahead of Tuesday’s midterm elections, where former President Barack Obama was defeated by Sen. Raphael sent Warnock to rally supporters.
Now that the Georgia Senate race will be decided in a December runoff election, will Biden campaign for Warnock?
“The president will do whatever it takes for Warnock to succeed,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday.
Biden had an unexpectedly good night on Tuesday, when Republicans failed to deliver the knockout blow. Congressional control is still up in the air.
But Biden’s approval rating is low, including in Georgia. And Warnock declined to say whether Biden should run for a second term.
– Maureen Grob
Election Results:Latest numbers for all House, Senate and Governor races
Newly elected Republican: ‘I want to see the party move forward’ from Trump
Republican Rep.-elect Mike Lawler, who defeated Democratic campaign chairman Sean Patrick Maloney in the race to represent New York’s 17th congressional district, told CNN Thursday morning that the Republican Party wants to move on from former President Donald Trump. .
Asked if Trump was to blame for the lack of a “red tide” on Tuesday, Lawler said the focus should be more on issues than personalities and that the party moving in a different direction is a good thing, not a bad thing. “
“I want to see the party progress,” he said. “I think any time you focus on the future, you can’t go back to the past.”
– Rachel Looker
No Black Women Won Senate or Governor Races:Despite historic campaigns, no black women won Senate or gubernatorial races in the 2022 midterm elections.
