By CASEY HARPER and DAN MCCALEB
THE CENTER SQUARE
(The Center Square) – The fate of the U.S. House and Senate remain undetermined on Veterans Day, three days after voting concluded in the midterm elections.
As of Friday mid-morning, FiveThirtyEight has 211 House seats under Republican control compared to 204 for Democrats, leaving both short of the 218 needed to control that chamber.
“There were a few individual races with projected winners over the course of Thursday, with more likely to come today, but neither party has won enough seats in either the House or Senate to determine a call for balance of power,” FiveThirtyEight reported Friday.
Some races remain separated by only a handful of votes. Outspoken supporter of former President Donald Trump, Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., is leading her opponent by just about 1,200 votes at time of publication. Arizona, California, Nevada and other states also have close House races.
Control of the Senate is still undecided and may come down to a Dec. 6 Georgia runoff between Republican Herschel Walker and Democrat Raphael Warnock. Arizona’s Senate was won by Democrat Mark Kelley, who defeated Trump-endorsed Republican Blake Masters. Following Sen. Kelley’s win, the Democrats need only one more victory to retain control of the Senate. This could come in the Georgia runoff or from Nevada’s uncalled Senate race, in which Republican Adam Laxalt leads Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto 49% to 48%, a difference of about 16,000 votes.
Gubernatorial races are tight as well. The closely watched governor’s race in Arizona has Republican Kari Lake behind Democrat Katie Hobbs by about 13,000 votes as counts continue Thursday.
Overall, election night disappointed many Republicans who hoped for the “red wave.”
“So after all the analysis it is clear the most likely case is both houses of Congress will go Red and the mega states of TX and FL go redder,” Matt Schlapp, chair of the Conservative Political Action Committee, wrote on Twitter. “We lost too many close races but all in all I go back to VA very pleased.”
Former President Donald Trump has taken criticism after many of the candidates he backed did not fare well.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday, President Joe Biden said he always expected Democrats to do “fine” and wants to work with Republicans going forward.
“While we don’t know all of the results yet – at least, I don’t know them all yet – here’s what we do know,” he said. “While the press and the pundits are predicting a giant red wave, it didn’t happen. And I know you were somewhat miffed by … my optimism, but I felt good during the whole process. I thought we were going to do fine.
“The American people have made clear, I think, that they expect Republicans to be prepared to work with me as well,” he added.
News-Press Associate Editor Matt Smolensky contributed to this report.
