Polls may have closed Tuesday night, but as of Friday no winner had been declared in some key midterm races.
The Republican Party has already solidified its majority in the Senate by holding onto seats in Kentucky, Kansas and Georgia while knocking off Democratic candidates in North Carolina, Iowa, Colorado and Arkansas. The GOP may add to that majority depending on the outcome of the Alaska Senate race.
The GOP made huge gains in the House as well and expanded its majority to a commanding 244 seats. The party may add one more to its ranks if candidate Carl DeMaio manages to eke out a victory over incumbent Democratic Rep. Scott Peters in California’s 52nd congressional district.
Here’s where each of those races currently stands.
ALASKA SENATE
Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) has not yet conceded despite trailing Republican challenger Dan Sullivan by more than 8,000 votes.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Sullivan was leading Begich 48.74 percent to 45.13 percent. But there were still a large amount of early and absentee ballots outstanding.
Under Alaska law, absentee ballots postmarked by Election Day can be received up to 10 days later from inside the U.S. and 15 days later from abroad. State officials expect to count absentee ballots on Tuesday and again on Nov. 17-19. The state then aims to certify the election results on Nov. 28.
There were 2,651 early votes and 23,271 absentee ballots yet to be counted as of Thursday night, according to Gail Fenumiai, the director of Alaska’s Division of Elections. There were an additional 1,648 partial count absentee ballots —ballots that have been counted but haven’t been checked against registrations — and 12,541 requested absentee ballots that had yet to be returned.
There were also 13,569 questioned ballots outstanding, which are typically votes cast in the wrong polling place.
An Alaska Dispatch News review of the state elections data found that if the uncounted early and absentee ballots end up being distributed the same way Tuesday’s votes were, Sullivan would actually widen his lead over Begich.
Fenumiai cautioned that the Division of Elections didn’t have a final count of questioned ballots from all districts, while it only had partial numbers from some other districts.
Begich’s campaign manager, Susanne Fleek-Green, has said that the senator won’t comment on the race until the outstanding ballots are cleared up.
CALIFORNIA’S 52nd CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA) was leading Republican challenger Carl DeMaio 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent as of Thursday evening with all precincts reporting. The two were separated by just 861 votes.
DeMaio had been leading Peters by less than 1,000 votes the morning after Election Day. Peters gained ground once San Diego County began counting absentee and provisional ballots, however. New numbers are expected to be released Friday afternoon.
A final winner was expected to be certified Monday, according to local TV station KNSD.
