Perhaps it is fitting that, after a seemingly never-ending election season, Tuesday evening turned into Wednesday morning with the country not knowing who will be sworn in as President on January 20.
As of 8 AM Eastern Time Wednesday, there were still significant numbers of mail-in ballots being counted in the last states that will determine who wins the presidency. The final results from some of these states may not be known until later this week. As expected, it appears that Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania will have the final say in determining the outcome.
Although so much of the attention was focused on the Presidential race, the balance of power in the Senate was also up for grabs in this year’s elections, with Republicans in control with a 53 – 47 advantage. Like the presidential race, a number of the Senate races are still too close to call. As of Wednesday AM, we do know that there will be at least three new Senators, with the Democrats netting one seat. Among the new Democratic Senators are:
- Mark Kelly of Arizona, who defeated Martha McSally– Because of the special circumstances surrounding this seat, which was once occupied by the late John McCain, Kelly could be sworn as soon as November 30.
- John Hickenlooper of Colorado, who defeated Cory Gardner
On the Republican side, Tommy Tuberville defeated Doug Jones to once again reclaim a seat once held by the former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Among the outstanding races are:
- In North Carolina, between Cal Cunningham and Thom Tillis
- In Maine, between Sara Gideon and Susan Collins
- In Georgia, where there were two races on the ballot last night and state rules require that the winners receive at least 50 percent of the votes cast. If no candidate reaches 50 percent, then a runoff is required in January between the top two vote getters in each race.
Meanwhile, on the other side of Capitol Hill, going into the night, Democrats were confident that they would expand their majority in the House. That may not prove to be the case after all of the votes are counted. Although it appears, at this point, that they will maintain control in the next Congress, the Republicans may have chipped away at the Democratic majority.
It appears that all of the Washington House incumbents are in the lead at this point, including both Kim Schrier (D-8th) and Jamie Herrera-Beutler (R-3rd), both of whom had close races in 2018.
In the 10th District, Marilyn Strickland is leading Beth Doglio. Both are running to replace Denny Heck in the next Congress, who was elected Lieutenant Governor last night.
We will continue post updates on our blog as results continue to come in.