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Georgia, California, Florida: Here Are the Races That Are Too Close to Call Florida, Georgia, California: Races That Are Still Too Close to Call
(about 20 hours later)
Election Day is over, but by midday Wednesday, there were still races across the country whose outcomes were still in doubt. That included pivotal Senate contests in Florida and Arizona, the closely watched governor’s race in Georgia and House races in California, Utah and elsewhere. Election Day is over, but as the week drew to a close there were still races whose outcomes were too close to call. That included Senate contests in Florida and Arizona, the closely watched governor’s race in Georgia, and House races in California, New York, Utah and elsewhere.
Here is a look at some important races that have yet to be decided. As election workers count provisional and absentee ballots, and in some cases prepare for recounts, it could be weeks before some results are known. Here is a look at the state of play in some of the races that have yet to be decided.
The Senate race in Florida is headed for a recount, according to Bill Nelson, the Democratic incumbent who is in danger of losing his seat. His Republican challenger, the sitting Gov. Rick Scott, was leading on Wednesday by 0.4 percentage points, or 34,537 votes. (In a statement, Mr. Scott called Mr. Nelson’s recount request “sad.”) The Senate race in Florida may be headed for a recount and Gov. Rick Scott, who challenged Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson, is not happy about it.
The Senate race in Arizona has yet to be called. Kyrsten Sinema, a former Green Party activist who reinvented herself as a centrist Democrat, was trailing the Republican Martha McSally by 15,908 votes. In what some may see as a bitter twist, that is far fewer than the 38,597 votes that went to the Green Party candidate in the race, Angela Green. Mr. Scott warned supporters of “rampant fraud” in left-leaning Palm Beach and Broward Counties. He also attacked Brenda Snipes, the Broward County supervisor of elections, of having “a history of acting in bad faith.”
Local election officials raced on Wednesday to count absentee ballots in Georgia, where the governor’s race has not been called. But state law requires a recount when two candidates are separated by half a percentage point or less.
On Wednesday morning, the Republican candidate, Brian Kemp, had a lead of 1.9 percentage points, or 75,386 votes, over the Democrat Stacey Abrams, the former minority leader of the Georgia House of Representatives. That puts him just slightly over the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff, an outcome that Ms. Abrams has said may be a possibility once absentee votes are counted. A recount could also be ordered in the governor’s race, where the Republican, Ron DeSantis, led Andrew Gillum, a Democrat, by 0.44 percentage points on Friday evening.
There were three House races in Southern California whose results were too close to call on Wednesday, all of them for longtime Republican seats. Two were in Orange County, which has long been synonymous with the California Republican Party. Read the latest on Florida here.
Vote counting continued on Friday in Arizona, where the Senate race between Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, and Martha McSally, a Republican, has yet to be called.
Ms. Sinema, a former Green Party activist who reinvented herself as a centrist Democrat, was leading Ms. McSally by less than one percentage point on Friday, according to unofficial results posted online by Arizona’s Secretary of State Michele Reagan.
Two races have yet to be called in Georgia: the governor’s race between the Democrat Stacey Abrams and the Republican Brian Kemp and the House race in the Seventh District, between the Democrat, Carolyn Bourdeaux, and the Republican incumbent, Rob Woodall.
In the governor’s race, Mr. Kemp leads Ms. Abrams, but she believes enough votes remain outstanding to put a runoff or recount within reach. “We will continue to advocate for every ballot to be counted and take the appropriate legal measures to ensure the legitimacy of this election,” said Lauren Groh-Wargo, her campaign manager.
The Abrams campaign said there are a few types of votes yet to be counted: provisional ballots, which are filled out if there are questions about identification or a person’s registration, and ballots from military servicemembers and Americans living overseas that were not due until Friday. A federal judge ruled Friday that regular absentee ballots in one southwest Georgia county, delayed because of Hurricane Michael and other circumstances, could be counted if they arrived by Friday.
Results aren’t expected in the Seventh District, which covers part of Atlanta’s northern suburbs, until early next week. Election officials are counting provisional ballots from Forsyth and Gwinnett counties and will announce their findings either Monday or Tuesday. The campaigns can request a recount if the race is decided by less than one percent, and on Friday the two candidates were 0.32 percent apart. “This race is as close as it’s ever been,” said Jake Best, Ms. Bourdeaux’s spokesman.
Read more about the state of play in Georgia here.
There are two House races in upstate New York that have yet to be called. Election officials said the final results may not be available until Dec. 3.
The race between Anthony Brindisi, a Democrat, and the Republican incumbent Claudia Tenney, in the 22nd District, which covers much of central New York, could be determined by several thousand absentee and provisional ballots that remain to be counted. Mr. Brindisi declared his campaign to be on a “winning path,” but Ms. Tenney said the race was too close to call.
“This race will be decided when all the votes have been counted,” Ms. Tenney said in a statement. “We will continue to work with our legal team and the electoral boards in each county to ensure the votes are counted accurately and fairly.”
Vote counting also continued in the 27th District, where the Republican incumbent Chris Collins, who was charged with insider trading in August, appeared to hold a lead over his Democratic challenger, Nate McMurray. But thousands of votes remained to be tallied on Friday.
“If we lose, we will lose graciously and get ready for the next fight,” Mr. McMurray said in a statement. “But it’s our duty to make sure that we count every vote because, in our democracy, every vote counts.”
He also asked his supporters for donations.
“We need lawyers,” he said in an online video. “And lawyers are expensive.”
There were five House races in California whose results were too close to call on Friday, all of them for longtime Republican seats.
In the 10th District, which covers part of the state’s Central Valley, the Republican incumbent Jeff Denham had a slim lead on Friday over the Democratic challenger Josh Harder, a venture capitalist, according to data from county election offices.
In the 25th District, an area outside Los Angeles that sent Republicans to Congress since 1993, the nonprofit executive Katie Hill had a slim lead on Friday over the Republican incumbent, Steve Knight.
In the 39th District, which includes parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino Counties, the Republican Young Kim was leading the Democrat Gil Cisneros.In the 39th District, which includes parts of Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino Counties, the Republican Young Kim was leading the Democrat Gil Cisneros.
In the 45th District, in once conservative Orange County, the Republican incumbent Mimi Walters held a slim lead over her Democratic challenger, Katie Porter, a college professor and liberal protégée of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.
In the 48th District, in Orange County, the Democrat Harley Rouda was leading Dana Rohrabacher, the Republican incumbent known for his pro-Russia views and staunch support for President Trump.In the 48th District, in Orange County, the Democrat Harley Rouda was leading Dana Rohrabacher, the Republican incumbent known for his pro-Russia views and staunch support for President Trump.
In the 50th District, outside San Diego, the Republican incumbent, Duncan Hunter, was leading the Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar by eight percentage points. Mr. Hunter, who was indicted in August on charges of abusing campaign funds, has been criticized for racially charged campaign tactics, including suggestions that his half-Palestinian opponent was a terrorist sympathizer. The race is far from over in the 23rd Congressional District, which covers most of the state’s border with Mexico. Republican incumbent Will Hurd has declared himself the winner (he had a 1,150 vote lead over his Democratic challenger, Gina Ortiz Jones) but Sam Taylor, a spokesman for the Texas secretary of state, said “there’s really no way to know at this point.”
The House race in Utah’s Fourth District was too close to call on Wednesday morning. The Salt Lake County mayor Ben McAdams, a Democrat, was leading the incumbent, Mia Love, the only black female Republican in the House, by 2.6 percentage points. Not only are there votes that have not been counted, including provisional and mail-in ballots, but there are also votes that haven’t even arrived yet. In Texas, ballots from voters living overseas can arrive up to five days after an election, Nov. 11, and those from military servicemembers can arrive up to six days after, or Nov. 12. Local authorities don’t have to submit the results to the secretary of state until Nov. 20.
Ms. Love spent much of the campaign battling accusations of campaign finance malfeasance. On Wednesday, President Trump criticized her by name at a news conference for what he described as her unwillingness to campaign alongside him. “Every journalist in the state has asked me who it looks like the winner will be,” Mr. Taylor said. “But there’s no way to predict that.”
The House race in Utah’s Fourth District remained close on Friday. The Salt Lake County mayor Ben McAdams, a Democrat, was leading the incumbent, Mia Love, the only black Republican woman in the House, who spent much of the campaign battling accusations of campaign finance malfeasance.
Unofficial results published online by the secretary of state on Friday showed Mr. McAdams ahead by almost 6,000 votes, but many votes remain uncounted. In Salt Lake County, the largest of four counties partially covered by the district, over 116,000 provisional and mail-in ballots had yet to be tallied on Friday morning, according to election officials. In the second largest county, Utah County, the number was over 88,000.
It remains unclear who won the House race in New Jersey’s Third District. Andy Kim, a Democrat, declared victory on Wednesday, although unofficial results posted online that day by New Jersey election authorities showed his opponent, the Republican incumbent Tom MacArthur, with a lead of more than 2,300 votes. The Associated Press has not called the race.
“This has been a hard-fought campaign and like Andy Kim, I’m ready to see it come to an end,” Mr. MacArthur said on Facebook on Wednesday. “I have always said that I will be guided by the voters of the district, and there are nearly 7,000 more of them who haven’t been heard from yet.”
Bruce Poliquin, the Republican incumbent, led his opponent, the Democrat Jared Golden, in the Second District, but the race remained too close to call. The district, which covers the sparsely populated and heavily forested majority of Maine’s landmass, was a target for Democrats.