Congressional elections highlights: November 7, 2024

The late updates Thursday in Clark and Washoe counties in Nevada didn’t add many votes to the tally in the races for president and U.S. Senate.

The deadline for mail ballots to arrive and be counted is Saturday. With tens of thousands of ballots potentially still left to count in the state’s two biggest counties, the races are too early to call.

Another day of vote counting in Arizona has added tens of thousands of votes to the tally, but there remain hundreds of thousands of ballots left to count — including nearly half a million in Maricopa County. Officials there are still working their way through advance votes that arrived in October. The races for president and U.S. Senate will remain too early to call for at least another day.

Republican Rep. Young Kim won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing California on Thursday, defeating Democrat Joseph Kerr. Kim, a former state lawmaker, flipped the Orange County-based district in 2020 even as Democrat Joe Biden carried it in the presidential election. Kerr is a retired firefighter. The Associated Press declared Kim the winner at 9:09 p.m. EST.

Pennsylvania Republican Sen.-elect David McCormick is thanking voters in a brief statement after The Associated Press called the race for him in his bid to oust three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey. On social media, the former CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund said, “Thank you, Pennsylvania! Looking forward to representing every citizen of our great Commonwealth.”

The victory pads Republicans’ majority in the Senate, which they wrested from Democratic control this week, and clocked in as the nation’s second-most expensive race.

Casey isn’t conceding. His campaign’s pointing to a statement from the state’s top election official saying that at least 100,000 ballots still remained to be counted, including provisional ballots and military and overseas ballots.

Casey’s campaign says it’ll “make sure every Pennsylvanian’s voice is heard.”

Racist text messages invoking slavery raised alarm across the country this week after they were sent to Black men, women and students, prompting inquiries by the FBI and other agencies.

The messages, sent anonymously, were reported in several states, including Alabama, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Tennessee. They generally used a similar tone but varied in wording.

Some instructed the recipient to show up at an address at a particular time “with your belongings,” while others didn’t include a location. Some of them mentioned the incoming presidential administration.

The FBI said it was in touch with the Justice Department on the messages, and the Federal Communications Commission said it was investigating the texts “alongside federal and state law enforcement.” The Ohio Attorney General’s office also said it was looking into the matter.

Democrats defended three key House seats in Nevada, wins that helped them hold ground in the nationwide race for House control.

However, the party still needs to flip seats elsewhere to have any hope of retaking House control.

Practically every seat matters now that it is coming down to the last couple dozen races to be called for the 435-seat chamber. Republicans currently hold a thin majority and just need to hold their seats in the races that have yet to be called.

The elections so far have produced few changes to the makeup of the House. Republicans flipped a pair of seats in Pennsylvania, won one more in Michigan and picked up three more redistricted seats in North Carolina. Democrats, meanwhile, flipped three in New York and picked up another redistricted seat in Alabama.

When Trump entered the White House the first time, Republicans held a 51-seat majority and many within the party were willing to resist his plans.

Now, Trump is going back with a healthy Senate majority — at least 53 seats — and a party transformed by his MAGA movement.

A couple of Republican senators are still willing to publicly buck Trump. But there are enough GOP senators to confirm Trump’s Cabinet -- or a possible Supreme Court justice -- even if a few split.

Republican leaders say they want to keep the Senate’s filibuster rules, which require a 60-vote margin for most legislation. But they’re also looking at using a process called budget reconciliation to pass some legislation with a simple majority.

Republican lawmakers want to extend tax cuts from Trump’s first term and fund tougher border enforcement measures.

When AP declared Dave McCormick the winner, the Republican had a lead of almost 31,000 votes with nearly all ballots counted. Turnout was up in areas that supported McCormick, including central and northeastern Pennsylvania, more than in areas where Democrat Bob Casey did best. In fact, Casey performed worse in every region of the state than he did when winning election six years ago.

Republican Dave McCormick’s win in Pennsylvania added to his party’s Senate majority and completed their dominance in a state that was crucial to both the presidential and congressional elections.

McCormick unseated Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, giving Republicans their 53rd seat in the Senate.

Close races in Arizona and Nevada have not been called.

The GOP’s rise to a Senate majority for the first time in four years is prompting praise for Sen. Steve Daines, who chairs the Republican campaign arm, and has insisted on getting involved in primary races to help mainstream candidates.

Republican David McCormick won a Senate seat in Pennsylvania on Thursday, defeating Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and padding the GOP’s Senate majority. McCormick, 59, is a two-time Senate challenger and a former hedge fund CEO who served in former President George W. Bush’s administration. McCormick had strong support from Wall Street donors and contacts across the worlds of government, politics and finance. Casey had been seeking his fourth term and is perhaps Pennsylvania’s best-known politician, the son of a former two-term governor and Pennsylvania’s longest-ever serving Democrat in the Senate. The Associated Press declared McCormick the winner at 4:09 p.m. EST.

Democratic Rep. Susie Lee won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Nevada on Thursday. Lee first won this Clark County seat in 2018, succeeding Democrat Jacky Rosen. The district picked up more Democratic voters after redistricting but remains a target for Republicans. The district covers a large part of Spring Valley along with rural areas. This year, Lee defeated Republican Drew Johnson, a conservative policy analyst and a senior fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research. The Associated Press declared Lee the winner at 3:46 p.m. EST.

Rep. Tom Suozzi, a New York Democrat, issued a statement chastising some of his fellow Democrats for being “too intimidated” to speak up on issues voters care about.

“In this election, Americans have made their voice clear: Democrats need to focus more on issues Americans care about, like wages and benefits, and less on being politically correct,” he said.

Suozzi added that Democrats “failed as a party to respond to the Republican weaponization of anarchy on college campuses, defund the police, biological boys playing in girls’ sports, and a general attack on traditional values.”

“We cannot get wrapped around the axle by our base and resistance politics,” he said.

Suozzi represents a district on Long Island that includes parts of the New York City borough of Queens.

Democratic Rep. Steven Horsford won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Nevada on Thursday. Horsford, a four-term congressman, became the first Black person to represent Nevada in Congress when he was first elected to the House. This year, he defeated former North Las Vegas Mayor John Lee. The district stretches north from Las Vegas, toward Nye County in the west and along the Utah border in the eastern portion of the district. The Associated Press declared Horsford the winner at 2:36 p.m. EST.

Democrats defended a pair of seats in hard-fought races in North Carolina and Washington state, but the party will still need to gain seats to have any hope of retaking control of the U.S. House.

Democratic Reps. Don Davis and Kim Schrier both won reelection, helping their party hold its ground in the tight race for House control. However, Democrats still need to overcome political headwinds in a handful of races in California and Arizona to make up for losses in Pennsylvania.

In North Carolina, where Davis won reelection, Republicans were also handed an advantage after the GOP-controlled General Assembly redistricted three seats to lean toward their party.

Republicans won three valuable U.S. House seats in Pennsylvania, flipping two of them away from Democrats as the GOP looks to hold onto its thin majority.

Republicans Ryan Mackenzie and Robert Bresnahan won close races over Democratic incumbents, and Rep. Scott Perry, a hardline conservative, held onto his seat.

Pennsylvania’s Senate race hasn’t been called but Republicans have been resurgent in the state. President-elect Donald Trump won the Keystone State and Republicans now hold a 10 to 7 advantage in its congressional delegation.

The losses for Democrats leave them looking West to try to pick up seats in undecided races, but if the party doesn’t unseat incumbents in California and Arizona, they’ll be locked out of power in Washington.

Democratic Rep. Kim Schrier won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Washington on Thursday. She defeated Republican Carmen Goers, who works in financial services. Schrier, a pediatrician, first won her seat in 2018, becoming the first Democrat to represent the district. Of the seven Washington state congressional districts that Democrat Joe Biden carried in 2020, the 8th district had the smallest margin. The district covers much of the middle of the state, from the eastern suburbs of Seattle to the Columbia River. The Associated Press declared Schrier the winner at 2:10 p.m. EST.

Democratic Rep. Donald Davis won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing North Carolina on Thursday. Davis ran in territory that became less favorable to Democrats in 2023 after North Carolina passed new maps that brought more Republican-leaning voters into the 1st District. President Joe Biden still narrowly carried areas in 2020 that make up the district’s current configuration. Davis defeated Army veteran Laurie Buckhout. The Associated Press declared Davis the winner at 2:03 p.m. EST.

Republican Rep. Scott Perry won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Pennsylvania on Thursday. The former Freedom Caucus chairman found himself in an expensive race against Janelle Stelson, a longtime local TV news anchor, in a Harrisburg district that Republican Donald Trump carried in the 2020 presidential election. Perry, a four-term congressman, was the only lawmaker to have his cellphone seized by FBI agents investigating the web of Trump loyalists who were central to the former president’s bid to remain in power after his 2020 election loss. The Associated Press declared Perry the winner at 1:47 p.m. EST.

Republican Rob Bresnahan won election to a U.S. House seat representing Pennsylvania on Thursday, defeating Democratic Rep. Matt Cartwright. Republicans have long sought to unseat Cartwright in this Scranton-based seat that Republican Donald Trump carried in the 2020 presidential election. Bresnahan is a first-time candidate and the CEO of an electrical contracting company founded by his grandfather. Cartwright has represented the district for six terms. The Associated Press declared Bresnahan the winner at 1:46 p.m. EST.

Republican Ryan Mackenzie won election to a U.S. House seat representing Pennsylvania on Thursday, defeating Democratic Rep. Susan Wild in the highly competitive district. Mackenzie represents parts of Lehigh County in the state House. While Democrat Joe Biden carried the Allentown district in 2020, Republican Donald Trump won it in 2016. Wild, a three-term congresswoman, is a perennial Republican target in her eastern Pennsylvania district and had staved off the challenges until now. The Associated Press declared Mackenzie the winner at 1:44 p.m. EST.

Democrats have flipped another New York House seat, but the party’s gains have so far not been enough to retake House control.

Democrat Laura Gillen unseated Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito in results that were called Thursday, adding to two other seats Democrats have picked up in New York. However, Democratic gains in the state have so far been offset by Republican victories elsewhere.

There are still dozens of House races that haven’t yet been decided, but Republicans were still expressing confidence Thursday that they would hold on to their House majority.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries is calling for “every vote” to be counted and pointing to still-to-be-called races in Arizona, Oregon and Iowa as a potential path for Democrats to flip the House majority.

As it became clear Donald Trump was returning to the White House, the Florida man who posed for photos with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern during the Capitol riot popped a bottle of Trump-branded sparkling wine. “Y’all are in trouble,” he said after taking a sip in a video shared on social media.

Rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, are celebrating Trump’s victory and hoping he makes good on his campaign trail promise to pardon them.

Trump didn’t mention the Jan. 6 defendants, whom he’s called “hostages” and “patriots,” during his victory speech Wednesday. But his defeat of Vice President Kamala Harris throws into doubt the future of the largest prosecution in Justice Department history over the unprecedented assault on a seat of American democracy.

More than 1,500 people have been charged with federal crimes stemming from the riot that left more than 100 police officers injured and sent lawmakers running into hiding as they met to certify Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.

Trump hasn’t explained how he’ll decide who gets pardoned. But he’s suggested he would consider granting them even for those accused of assault as well as the former Proud Boys leader convicted of orchestrating a violent plot to keep Trump in power.

▶ Read more about Trump and the Capitol rioters

Democrat Laura Gillen won election to a U.S. House seat representing New York on Thursday, defeating Republican Rep. Anthony D’Esposito. Gillen is a former town supervisor who campaigned on supporting law enforcement and border security, an issue many Democrats blame for their losses in New York in 2022. She lost to D’Esposito by just over 3 percentage points last cycle. Gillen is one of several Democrats running against a New York Republican congressman in a district that Democrat Joe Biden carried in 2020. The district falls just outside the New York City borough of Queens. The Associated Press declared Gillen the winner at 12:39 p.m. EST.

At least one of three U.S. House seats in Nevada will remain under Democratic control after incumbent Rep. Dina Titus won in her race.

The Associated Press has declared Titus the winner Thursday. The races for the seats sought by Reps. Susie Lee and Steven Horsford were still too early to call. Nevada’s lone Republican Congressman, Mark Amodei, cruised to victory Tuesday night.

It was the second election in a row that Titus defeated Republican Mark Robertson, a retired Army colonel, to keep her seat in the Las Vegas district she’s represented for more than a decade. Republican-leaning suburban areas were folded into the district after boundaries were redrawn, making it a GOP target.

▶ Read more about Nevada’s elections

She outperformed Vice President Kamala Harris in Wisconsin, winning by just under 1 point, which was around President-elect Donald Trump’s margin of victory in the state.

“I recognize that the people of Wisconsin chose Donald Trump and I respect their choice,” Baldwin said. “You know that I will always fight for Wisconsin, and that means working with President Trump to do that and standing up to him when he doesn’t have our best interests at heart.”

Baldwin, who’s never lost an election, credited her third Senate win to her relentless travel across the state and reaching out to voters of all types. This year, she won an endorsement from the conservative Wisconsin Farm Bureau, which marked the first time the group had backed a Democrat in a statewide race in more than 20 years.

“We did everything, everywhere, all at once,” Baldwin said when explaining her win. “I traveled to red, blue, purple, rural, suburban, urban parts of our state. I listened to people. I really listened to people and I deliver for them. And, in turn, Wisconsinites showed up for me. And I am so grateful.”

Republican Jeffrey Hurd won election to a U.S. House seat representing Colorado on Thursday, maintaining Republican control of the 3rd District seat now represented by GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert. Boebert, who nearly lost her seat to Democrat Adam Frisch in 2022, decided this year to run for former Republican Rep. Ken Buck’s vacant seat in territory that’s even friendlier to Republicans. The victory by Hurd, an attorney seen as a moderate alternative to Boebert, marked the second loss in a row for Frisch, a former City Council member from Aspen, who campaigned as a pragmatic businessman. The Associated Press declared Hurd the winner at 12:10 p.m. EST.

Democratic Rep. Dina Titus won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Nevada on Thursday. The Las Vegas district picked up Republican-leaning suburban areas after redistricting, turning it into a target for the GOP. But for the second election in a row, Titus defeated Republican Mark Robertson, a retired Army colonel. She has served seven terms in Congress. The Associated Press declared Titus the winner at 12:04 p.m. EST.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, issued a statement Thursday thanking the Harris-Walz campaign for running “an inspired and positive campaign focused on lifting people up.“

But the New York lawmaker issued caution on the status of the House races, saying “we must count every vote” in outstanding states like Arizona and California.

“I am proud that the Democratic Party does not believe in election denial,” Jeffries said. “Our Democracy is precious and it involves elevating public trust in our system of free and fair elections, not undermining it.”

He also quoted President Joe Biden, adding “We cannot love America only when we win.”

Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin pledged during her reelection victory speech Thursday to work with President-elect Donald Trump when possible, but she also vowed to fight him to protect the national health care law and abortion rights.

Baldwin narrowly won reelection to a third term over Republican businessman Eric Hovde, who was endorsed by Trump. Hovde has yet to concede in a race where the margin is so close he could seek a recount.

Baldwin said to a room of supporters at a steamfitters union training center.

Baldwin defeated Hovde by just under 29,000 votes, a margin of 0.9%, based on unofficial results. State law allows for the race losers within 1 percentage point of the winner to seek a recount, but Hovde hasn’t yet said whether he’ll do that.

Hovde’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

▶ Read more about Wisconsin’s Senate race

King has survived a pair of cancer scares. He was treated for malignant melanoma — a skin cancer — at 29 and had surgery for prostate cancer in 2015.

In Washington, he’s part of an increasingly small number of senators in the middle with the departure of Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, and Republican Sen. Mitt Romney.

King has long said he doesn’t want to be tied to any party, though he caucuses with Democrats, and that served him well in a state where independents used to represent the largest voting bloc. But both major parties have overtaken unenrolled voters in sheer numbers in recent years.

▶ Read more about Maine’s Senate race

Democratic Rep. Val Hoyle won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Oregon on Thursday. Hoyle, a first-term congresswoman, defeated Republican Monique DeSpain, an Air Force veteran. Hoyle succeeded longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio in 2022. The 4th District runs along the western portion of the state and includes Eugene. The Associated Press declared Hoyle the winner at 10:38 a.m. EST.

Independent Sen. Angus King won a third term in the U.S. Senate representing Maine on Thursday, turning back challenges from a former Republican state party chair and a Democratic environmental activist. The 80-year-old former governor would be the oldest senator from Maine to serve if he completes his term, which ends in 2030, but he was not dogged by questions about his age like President Joe Biden, the former Democratic presidential nominee. King caucuses with Democrats and was first elected to the Senate in 2012. The Associated Press declared King the winner at 10:14 a.m. EST.

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People read U.S. President-elect Donald Trump election news early morning sitting at a roadside tea shop in Lucknow, India, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

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A person reads U.S. president-elect Donald Trump election news in a newspaper, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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A man shows a newspaper he is reading whose front-page reports on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024, in Jakarta, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana)

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A Kenyan reads a morning newspaper with reports on the U.S. election on front page, beside her child, in the Kibera slum of the capital Nairobi, Kenya, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Henry Naminde)

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Germany’s biggest tabloid newspaper BILD, with President-elect Donald Trump on the frontpage and headlines reading “There he is again!”, is seen at a station kiosk in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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A pedestrian looks at a newspaper’s front page reporting on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election, in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

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Newspapers front-pages with President-elect Donald Trump are seen at a station kiosk in Cologne, Germany, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner)

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Various Indian newspapers are seen carrying headlines of U.S. president-elect Donald Trump’s victory, in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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A view of the front pages of Italian newspapers reporting on U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential election, in Rome, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

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A front-page report on the U.S. election is seen at a news stand in Beijing, Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

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While control of the U.S. House is still being determined, newspaper headlines around he world are dominated by Donald Trump’s reelection to the White House.

Federal Reserve officials are poised Thursday to reduce their key interest rate for a second straight time, responding to a steady slowdown of the inflation pressures that exasperated many Americans and contributed to Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.

Yet the Fed’s future moves are now more uncertain in the aftermath of the election, given that Trump’s economic proposals have been widely flagged as potentially inflationary. His election has also raised the specter of meddling by the White House in the Fed’s policy decisions, with Trump having proclaimed that as president he should have a voice in the central bank’s interest rate decisions.

The Fed has long guarded its status as an independent institution able to make difficult decisions about borrowing rates, free from political interference. Yet during his previous term in the White House, Trump publicly attacked Chair Jerome Powell after the Fed raised rates to fight inflation, and he may do so again.

▶ Read more about interest rate cuts

Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States, social media users began pushing two conflicting narratives to suggest election fraud, one that revived false claims by Trump that the 2020 vote was stolen from him and the other questioning how Vice President Kamala Harris could have received so many fewer votes in 2024 than President Joe Biden in 2020.

Both narratives hinge on a supposed 20 million vote gap between Harris and Biden.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: President Joe Biden won approximately 20 million more votes in the 2020 election than Vice President Kamala Harris earned in the 2024 race, proving either that Trump has cheated his way to a second term or that there was widespread fraud four years ago.

THE FACTS: The claims are unfounded. Votes from Tuesday’s presidential election are still being counted, so any comparison with previous races would not be accurate. In addition, election officials and agencies monitoring the vote have reported no significant issues with Tuesday’s election. Claims of widespread fraud in 2020 have been debunked countless times.

▶ Read more on this fact focus

Follow the latest results from The Associated Press in the congressional and presidential races here.

The House contests remain a tit-for-tat fight to the finish, with no dominant pathway to the majority for either party. Rarely, if ever, have the two chambers of Congress flipped in opposite directions.

Each side is gaining and losing a few seats, including through the redistricting process, which is the routine redrawing of House seat boundary lines. The process reset seats in North Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama.

Much of the outcome hinges on the West, particularly in California, where a handful of House seats are being fiercely contested, and mail-in ballots arriving a week after the election will still be counted. Hard-fought races around the “blue dot” in Omaha, Nebraska and in far-flung Alaska are among those being watched.

Arizona: Officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County said late Wednesday they’ve got more than 700,000 ballots left to count, which means the races for president and senate were too early to call. In all, AP estimates there are at least a million ballots to be added to the results in Arizona. County election officials are expected to firm up those numbers on Thursday.

Nevada: AP estimated late Wednesday evening that there are more than 200,000 ballots left to count in Nevada — including more than 130,000 in Clark County. Given the narrow margins in the races for president and U.S. Senate, both are too early to call. The AP will further review results released by Nevada election officials on Thursday.

The U.S. House majority hung in the balance Wednesday, teetering between Republican control that would usher in a new era of unified GOP governance in Washington or a flip to Democrats as a last line of resistance to a Trump second-term White House agenda.

A few individual seats, or even a single one, will determine the outcome. Final tallies will take a while, likely pushing the decision into next week — or beyond.

After Republicans swept into the majority in the U.S. Senate by picking up seats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted his chamber would fall in line next.

“Republicans are poised to have unified government in the White House, Senate and House,” Johnson said Wednesday.

▶ Read more about control of Congress