After months of campaigning by hundreds of candidates, control of the House of Representatives could be determined on Election Day — barring runoffs and delayed counting in some areas.
The party that controls the House can unleash a barrage of investigations of the Biden administration, as Republicans have already promised. The majority can also launch impeachment proceedings.
Republicans are trying to take over the majority in the House, and candidates and election analysts agree things aren't looking good for the Democrats.
"Democrats are gonna lose seats," said Chris Warshaw, a professor at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. The question, Warshaw said, is how much Democrats can mitigate their losses.
President Joe Biden’s remaining political agenda is dependent on Democrats controlling the House. But high inflation, a surge in spending from Republican PACs, favorable election maps in a number of GOP-controlled states, and historical trends that work against the party in power has analysts predicting a GOP takeover of the House.
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Follow along for the latest updates on House races.
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House GOP leader, beats Democratic challenger
House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy easily beat longshot Democratic challenger Marisa Wood in the race for California’s 20th Congressional District, according to projections by CNN and NBC.
With just under 20% of votes counted, McCarthy led Wood by more than 22 percentage points.
— Ella Lee
Greg Landsman unseats GOP Rep. Steve Chabot in Cincinnati-area race
Democrat and Cincinnati City Councilman Greg Landsman is heading to Congress.
U.S. Rep Steve Chabot called Landsman and conceded when Landsman was leading Tuesday night 52% to 49%, Landsman told the crowd at his election night party. The margin was a little over 10,000 votes with almost all the votes in.
Chabot had represented Hamilton County for 26 years in Congress. This was his first defeat since he lost to Democrat Steve Driehaus in 2008. He regained his seat two years later.
It was an expensive and bruising campaign for both sides, with more than $11 million spent on the race between both candidates and outside groups as of mid-October, according to Opensecrets.org.
— Scott Wartman, Cincinnati Enquirer
Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost wins Orlando-area seat
Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost has defeated Republican Calvin Wimbish for a Florida U.S. House seat, making him the first member of Generation Z to win a seat in Congress.
Frost is a former March For Our Lives organizer seeking stricter gun control laws and has stressed opposition to restrictions on abortion rights. Generation Z generally refers to those born between the late 1990s to early 2010s. To become a member of Congress, candidates must be at least 25 years old.
Wimbish is a 72-year-old former Army Green Beret who called himself a “Christian, conservative, constitutionalist” candidate for office.
– Associated Press
Paulina Luna flips Florida district red
Republican Anna Paulina Luna flipped the House seat in Florida’s 13th District red, defeating incumbent Democrat Eric Lynn.
Paulina Luna is a Trump-backed conservative activist and Air Force veteran. The race had one of the narrowest margins. The district covers the majority of Pinellas County, including St. Petersburg.
- Rachel Looker
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wins reelection in New York
Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won reelection to the New York house seat, defeating Republican challenger Tina Forte.
The congresswoman, who represents Queens and the Bronx, was the youngest woman and Latina to serve in Congress when she was elected in 2018. She is known for her progressive views on health care, income inequality, immigration, combating climate change and her work on the Green New Deal.
- Rachel Looker
Marjorie Taylor Green wins reelection in Georgia
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., won reelection over Democrat Marcus Flowers, an Army veteran who also worked for the Defense Department, ending the most expensive and one of the highest-profile House races of the 2022 midterms.
Greene quickly gained notoriety during her first campaign for office in 2020 for a track record of promoting racist rhetoric and far-right conspiracy theories. She vowed to spend her time in office promoting Trump-era policies.
- Laura Bargfeld, Cronkite News
Republican Jim Jordan wins Ohio House seat
Republican Rep. Jim Jordan defended his Ohio House seat against Democratic challenger Tamie Wilson.
Jordan is an eight-term congressman who has held his seat since 2007. He is a close ally of former President Donald Trump.
- Rachel Looker
Marcy Kaptur defeats Trump-backed newcomer in northwest Ohio
Longtime U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur held on to her congressional seat in northwest Ohio Tuesday, defeating a Trump-backed political novice in a new district that Republicans hoped to pick up.
The Associated Press called the nationally watched race in the 9th Congressional District shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday. Kaptur was leading Republican J.R. Majewski with 57% of the vote, according to unofficial results.
Kaptur's victory is a blow to Republicans who hoped to oust the longest-serving woman in Congress.
Her old district, which stretched from Toledo to Cleveland, was known as the “snake on the lake” and held up as an example of gerrymandering gone wrong. When mapmakers created a new congressional map for 2022, they put Kaptur in a more Republican district that includes Democratic Lucas County and six other counties that went for former President Donald Trump in 2020.
Matt Gaetz reelected to Florida seat
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz defended his Florida House seat against Democratic challenger Rebekah Jones.
Gaetz, who has represented the district since 2017, has been one of former President Donald Trump’s strongest supporters. He has faced legal troubles and has been under federal investigation over allegations he violated federal sex trafficking laws.
- Rachel Looker
Republican Jennifer Kiggans unseats incumbent Elaine Luria
Republican state Sen. Jennifer Kiggans unseated incumbent Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., Tuesday in Virginia's 2nd District, which gained a more Republican tilt in redistricting but was still considered a toss-up.
Both Luria and Kiggans are Navy veterans who campaigned on promises to fight for defense and veterans issues.
Kiggins, who currently represents Legislative District 7 in the Tidewater region of the state, positioned herself as the candidate to restore American strength that she said has been injured by the policies of the Biden administration - policies she said Luria continually backed.
Luria, a two-term House member, is also a member of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol. A main thrust of her campaign was what she called Kiggins' failure to discuss her stance on results of the 2020 election.
– Emilee Miranda, Cronkite News
Biden calls to congratulate Democratic winners
President Biden called to congratulate several Democrats who scored victories as races were still being tallied across the country.
Biden made congratulatory calls to incumbents, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Rep. Abigail Spanberger, Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee. He also phoned Senator-elect Peter Welch and Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healey.
- Christal Hayes
Arizona GOP looks to flip House delegation
The partisan makeup of Arizona's U.S. House delegation and control of Congress itself are up for grabs Tuesday, with Republicans hoping to shift the state's 5-4 Democratic tilt by picking up two and possibly three seats.
Redistricting after the 2020 U.S. Census gave the GOP candidates a leg up in those three districts. Meanwhile, a district that had strongly favored Republicans for the past decade got only slightly less GOP-friendly. The other five districts are shoo-ins for the incumbents in districts that heavily favor the sitting members of Congress.
The most vulnerable Democratic incumbent is three-term U.S. Rep. Tom O'Halleran, whose sprawling 2nd Congressional District covers much of northeastern Arizona and dips south to the northern Tucson suburbs. Redistricting remade the district into one that strongly favors the GOP by drawing in the Prescott area.
– Associated Press
Guam elects first Republican representative since 1993
Republican James Moylan defeated Democrat Judith Won Pat to become Guam’s newest non-voting House of Representatives delegate.
Moylan received 17,075 votes compared to Won Pat’s 15,427, according to partial, unofficial election results from the Guam Election Commission. He is the second Republican to be elected to the position since its creation in 1972.
- Eleanor McCrary
Peeling back the curtain: How and why we cover the midterm elections, from the editors
Stock market reacts to possible 'red wave'
Stocks rallied Tuesday on expectations that Republicans will retake at least one chamber of Congress, likely the House of Representatives. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 1.5% as of 1 p.m. ET. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite were also up by more than 1%.
Political gridlock has “historically benefitted equity investors, with the S&P 500 Index averaging annual gains within the range of 13.0%,” John Lynch, Comerica Wealth Management's chief investment officer, wrote in a report. “Though counterintuitive, equity markets tend to prefer divided government.”
– Elisabeth Buchwald, Medora Lee
Vega makes final push at in Virginia district
WOODBRIDGE, Va. – Congressional candidates Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger and Republican Yesli Vega are making the rounds at various precincts to greet voters and make their final pitches.
Spanberger is on the road with Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va. Vega spoke with reporters outside Kilby Elementary School, saying she felt “very confident” about today’s election.
“We cannot afford another two years of this administration, record high inflation, crime through the roof in our communities, drugs pouring into our neighborhoods, destroying our families and killing our youth,” Vega said.
– Kaila Nichols and Dante Nieto, Medill News Service
What's at stake?
What happens in midterm elections today will impact what happens in the run-up to the presidential election in 2024.
If Democrats keep the Senate and House, President Joe Biden can continue furthering his agenda, providing a longer record for him and other Democrats to run on (if he decides to for re-election).
If Republicans take over the House, they have already promised to launch a litany of investigations of the Biden administration that could damage Democrats’ record (and Biden’s legacy). If Republicans take the Senate, they can block Supreme Court nominations and block legislation.
What are some key issues?
The economy and inflation are at the forefront of voters’ minds as they consider who on their ballots to vote for in the Nov. 8 midterm election, but their concerns go beyond just the higher cost of gas and groceries.
While inflation has managed to remain the top issue throughout the election season, immigration reform, the soaring costs of health care, and a lack of affordable housing are also economic factors voters are considering as they contemplate who to vote for – if they even decide to cast their ballot.
Read the rest here:Inflation, health care and rent: key economic factors voters consider in midterms
-- Sarah Elbeshbishi
Watch out, Hunter Biden? What voters predict a GOP House majority would do
Get ready for gridlock?
Four in 10, 42%, foresee "more partisan gridlock with nothing getting done" if power is divided between a GOP-controlled House and a Democratic president. Just 19% say that situation would force more bipartisanship.
Another 25% predict "nothing will change" from the last two years.
Read the whole story here:Watch out, Hunter Biden? What voters predict a GOP House majority would do
– Susan Page
Voting rights in the United States: A state-by-state analysis
How the last census changed the House of Representatives
Texas will gain two more congressional seats and seven states will each lose a seat as a result of population shifts recorded in the 2020 Census, the Census Bureau said Monday in the release of its first round of data from the survey taken last year.
In total, seven seats shifted, affecting 13 states. Colorado, Florida, Montana, North Carolina and Oregon each gained one seat in addition to Texas. California, Illinois, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia each lost one seat.
Previously:Texas will gain 2 congressional seats. Seven states to lose 1 seat, Census Bureau data shows
– Katie Wadington, Jeanine Santucci
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