ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Yesterday, Americans voted on key congressional, gubernatorial and local races, and now, the country waits on the results, as several key races have yet to be decided.
HOUSE
The red wave for the House of Representatives did not come to fruition as many predicted; however, Republicans are favored to win the majority of the House, though by narrow margins. At 2:15 a.m., the Associated Press reported that Republican leader Kevin McCarthy addressed supporters, saying the House was gained by the GOP.
“Now let me tell you, you’re out late, but when you wake up tomorrow, we will be in the majority and Nancy Pelosi will be in the minority,” he said.
As of Wednesday morning, Democrats held 172 seats in the House, losing three, while Republicans had 199 seats, gaining three. In all, 218 seats are needed to win the majority if there are no vacancies. There are 17 key races that still need to be called—Democrats are leading in 11 of the races, while Republicans are leading in six.
SENATE
The majority control of the Senate also has yet to be decided, and the election has been tighter than expected. As of this writing, Republicans hold 47 seats, losing one, while Democrats have 48, gaining one. Fifty-one seats are needed for the majority of the Senate.
In Pennsylvania, Democrat John Fetterman defeated Republican Mehmet Oz, which was the only Senate seat to flip so far. In Ohio, J.D. Vance (R) beat Rep. Tim Ryan (D, Ohio-13), and in North Carolina, Rep. Ted Budd (R, N.C-13) defeated Cheri Beasley (D). Incumbent Sen. Ron Johnson (R) has a slight lead over Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes (D) in Wisconsin.
The Senate race in Georgia between incumbent Raphael Warnock (D) and Herschel Walker (R) is too close to call, and if neither candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, a December 6 runoff race will be called.
Important election results in Nevada and Arizona are also yet to be determined. In Nevada, Republican Adam Laxalt is leading the race between Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto by three percentage points, and 72% of the votes have been counted. In Arizona, the race between Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and Republican Blake Masters has 63% of votes counted, with Kelly having 52% and Masters with 46%.
GOVERNORS
There were 36 states that casted votes for governors, and many states stuck to what they already knew. Florida re-elected Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), and Texas re-elected Gov. Greg Abbott (R). Georgia re-elected Republican Governor Brian Kemp over Democrat Stacey Abrams. New York, Michigan and Kansas re-elected their democratic governors, and Ohio kept Republic governor Mike DeWine.
As of Wednesday morning, Republicans held on to 16 governorships, while Democrats held on to 14 and flipped Maryland and Massachusetts from red to blue. Four gubernatorial races have yet to be called: Alaska, Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. The Wall Street Journal reports that Arizona and Nevada may not call their governor elections for days because of mail ballots that need to be counted and other challenges, including a rainstorm in Las Vegas.