Republicans finally got some good news on Friday when a handful of midterm nailbiter elections were decided in their favor.
The Associated Press had called 254 races for Democrats and 162 for Republicans (up from 155 Thursday afternoon) as of Friday afternoon, with 19 House seats still up in the air.
The races called Friday included GOP wins for Rep. Jeff Hurd in Colorado, Mark Lamb in Arizona and Anthony Constantino in New York’s 21st Congressional District.
Constantino, who ran in retiring Rep. Elise Sefanik’s (R-NY) upstate district, had already declared himself the winner at his Election Night watch party.
Of the remaining House races too close to call, Democrats lead in about half of them — and they could further expand their sizable majority.
The incumbent Republicans in danger of being unseated include, Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Brand Finstad (R-Minn.), Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) and Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.)
A Boebert campaign lawyer alleged “unusual voting patterns” in the congresswoman’s race against Democrat Eileen Laubacher late Thursday and said he is expecting it to head to a recount.
“Since election night, ballot returns have been trending in Congresswoman Boebert’s direction, consistently lowering the margin under one percentage point,” Scott Gessler, who is also Colorado’s former secretary of state, said in a statement. “We are investigating some very unusual voting patterns and expect this election to head to a recount, one way or another.”
Democrats have gained at least 42 seats.
On the Senate side, two races remain uncalled: Alaska and Mississippi.
Democrat Mary Peltola leads incumbent GOP Sen. Dan Sullivan in the Alaska race by 0.3 percentage points, or about 600 votes, with 74% of ballots counted in the ranked-choice contest.
In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom continues to lead incumbent GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde‑Smith by 0.3 percentage points, or about 2,500 votes, with 97% of ballots counted.
“We are not backing down,” Hyde‑Smith defiantly posted on X Friday. “This election is not over. Our team is working across Mississippi to monitor the remaining ballots and protect the integrity of the process.
“We will see this through to the very end!”
Democrats have thus far secured a 54-44 majority in the upper chamber.
