A month after polling places across the country closed their doors for the night, it appears we finally know how the congressional races turned out.
Well … almost.
The Senate has been finalized, with Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith beating Mike Espy in a runoff for the Mississippi seat which Hyde-Smith had been appointed to serve following the resignation of Thad Cochran. Hyde-Smith registered 53.9 percent of the vote to 46.1 percent for Espy.
The long-awaited call in the final contested House race in California appears to be made. Democrat TJ Cox, who trailed by nearly 5,000 votes and 7 percent on Election Night, declared victory over Republican incumbent David Valadao in the 21st District race.
Cox has seen his lead grow steadily as votes were tabulated, now holding a 623-vote lead, 50.3 percent to 49.7 percent, with two of the four counties in the district reporting all their votes have been tallied. One county has 2,919 votes to tally – although only 509 are mail, provisional or conditional votes, while the rest are damaged or diverted for optical review. The other county has 1,510 votes remaining, with only 21 listed as mail, provisional or conditional votes.
However, just when you thought it was safe to declare the Democrats had gained 40 seats and would hold a 234-201 majority in the next Congress, along came North Carolina.
The 9th District race between Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready appeared to be over weeks ago, with Harris holding a 905-vote victory. But the state board of elections has declined to certify the findings as it is investigating potential voter fraud in at least two of the counties in the district.
Currently, the board of elections is slated to hold a hearing on or before Dec. 21 to determine what to do with the race, but the allegations are serious enough that many observers – including the Associated Press – have rescinded their calls for the election in Harris’ favor.
The race is familiar, it was for the seat which had been held by Financial Services Committee member Robert Pittenger, who lost his primary race to Harris by 828 votes. In an interview with a local newscast in Raleigh, N.C., Pittenger said he was aware of potential irregularities.
“It’s been out there. We were fully aware of it. There’s some pretty unsavory people out, particularly in Bladen County. And I didn’t have anything to do with them. Let me just leave it at that,” Pittenger told Spectrum News.