UPDATE, 2:35 p.m.: Decision Desk HQ has called the Pennsylvania Senate race for Dave McCormick.
Decision Desk HQ projects David McCormick (R) wins the US Senate election in Pennsylvania.#DecisionMade: 2:25pm ET
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) November 14, 2024
Follow live results here:https://t.co/jw2B5WP4ly pic.twitter.com/Nrk81zyDUy
The race may still go to a recount, so stay tuned.
Original Article:
Eight days after Americans stopped voting, there are still nine House races yet to be called. And while the Associated Press called the Pennsylvania Senate race for Republican Dave McCormick over Democratic incumbent Bob Casey, the race ended up being within the 0.5% margin that would automatically trigger a recount. We're not likely to get an official winner of the race until Thanksgiving week.
Only three races out of 36 statewide recounts in the last 24 years have ended up overturning the result. Even with 80,000 outstanding provisional, mail-in, and "cured" ballots left to count, it's not likely to deny McCormick his victory.
Otherwise, most of the other undecided races are in California, which allows ballots to be postmarked on election day. It will likely be another three or four days before the results are finalized.
One exception is in Alaska, where Republican Nick Begich is beating incumbent Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat, by more than 9,000 votes. There's still nearly 30% of the vote left to count. And then there's the problem that Alaska is a ranked-choice voting state, so Lord knows how that's going to turn out.
Since Begich failed to get 50% of the vote, the race will be decided by voters' second choice for the office.
Another ranked-choice state is Maine, and there, the Second District race has Democratic Rep. Jared Golden facing Republican Austin Theriault in a district that supported Trump in 2016 and 2020. Golden is ahead by about 2,000 votes with 99% of the vote counted. It's already been announced that the race will be decided by a ranked-choice runoff.
Republicans have a chance for a pick-up in Ohio's 9th District as long-time Democratic incumbent Rep. Marcy Kaptur is trailing Republican challenger Derek Merrin by 1,100 votes with 94% of the vote counted. This race also appears headed for a recount.
In Oregon's 5th District, first-term incumbent Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer is up against Democrat Janelle Bynum. With 90% of the vote counted, Bynum is up by 10,000 votes.
In Iowa's 1st District, a real burner is underway with the two candidates separated by about 800 votes. Republican incumbent Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Democrat Christina Bohannan are in a rematch of the 2022 contest in a genuine swing district.
California still has four races to be decided with three of them likely to go to Democrats: Districts 13, 21, and 45.
Freshman GOP Rep. John Duarte leads Democratic challenger Adam Gray by more than 3,700 votes with 76% of votes in.
The two faced off in 2022, when Gray lost by less than 600 votes. CBS News characterizes the race as a toss-up.
CBS News characterizes the race between Rep. Jim Costa, the Democratic incumbent, and Republican Michael Maher as lean Costa. The congressman leads by just over 5,000 votes, and 78% of the estimated vote total has been reported so far.
This race between GOP incumbent Rep. Michelle Steel and Democrat Derek Tran is remarkably close. Steel is ahead by 349 votes with 89% of the vote in. CBS News characterizes the race as a toss-up. Steel is in her second term in the House and is one of the first Korean-American women to serve in Congress.
In California's 9th District, CBS News characterizes the race as lean Democrat, with incumbent Rep. Josh Harder, a Democrat, ahead of his Republican opponent Kevin Lincoln. More than 8,000 votes separate the two candidates with 83% of the vote counted.
Republicans are going to increase their slim majority by only one or two votes. If they want to get anything done, they're going to have to be very unified in the face of what's sure to be a united Democratic Party.
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