(WASHINGTON) — The 2022 midterm elections shaped up to be some of the most consequential in the nation’s recent history, with control of Congress at stake.
All 435 seats in the House and 35 of 100 seats in the Senate were on the ballot, as well as several influential gubernatorial elections in battleground states like Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Democrats were defending their narrow majorities in both chambers and retained control of the Senate, though control of the House isn’t yet clear. But a Republican flip of the lower chamber would be enough to curtail most of President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda and would likely result in investigations against his administration and even his family.
Here is how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 15, 3:07 AM EST
Arizona Republican Juan Ciscomani projected to win House seat
Republican Juan Ciscomani will win in his election bid to represent Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, ABC News can report, defeating Democrat Kirsten Engel and flipping a House seat for Republicans from retiring Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick.
With 99% of the expected vote in, Ciscomani is leading Engel by 3,502 votes, 50.5% to 49.5%.
Ciscomani, a longtime aide to Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, is seen as a rising star in the Republican Party. He ran a focused campaign — without an endorsement from former President Donald Trump — on issues including border security, the economy and “conservative family values.”
Ciscomani tweeted a thread on Monday accepting victory and thanking Ducey for encouraging him to run and for “being a sounding board through this process”
“In the best country in the world where anything is possible, I am now honored to represent my hometown in the U.S. Congress. I am ready to serve, find solutions for our district’s challenges, & be a strong independent voice for our community,” he wrote.
He beats Engel, a former Environmental Protection Agency attorney and Arizona state senator, who served just nine months before resigning to run for the vacant seat. Her campaign focused on abortion rights, making for a competitive race in the district which covers most of Pima County, including most of Tucson and Cochise County.
Nov 15, 12:21 AM EST
GOP Rep. David Schweikert holds House seat, Dems’ long-shot hope of holding majority fades
Incumbent Republican Rep. David Schweikert will win reelection in Arizona, ABC News can report, projected to defeat Democratic challenger Jevin Hodge and hold a House seat for Republicans.
With 99% of the expected vote in, Schweikert is leading Hodge by 3,008 votes, 50.4% to 49.6%.
Hodge had led Schweikert leading into the weekend, but with larger drops in recent days from Republican areas in Maricopa County, Hodge’s odds of overtaking Schweikert faded, along with Democrats’ hopes of keeping the House.
This will be Schweikert’s seventh term in Congress but his first for District 1 after redistricting. Schweikert fought characterizations of corruption after the House reprimanded him last year for 11 ethics rules violations for improper spending by his office and his campaign. He was fined $50,000 as part of a settlement agreement to end the yearslong probe.
Hodge would have become the first Black Arizonan elected to Congress had he won and is seen as a rising star in the Democratic Party.
Nov 14, 9:23 PM EST
Katie Hobbs projected to beat Kari Lake for Arizona governor
Democrat Katie Hobbs is projected to win her race against Republican Kari Lake, ABC News reports, flipping the Arizona governor’s seat for the first time in more than a decade as midterm voters across the nation appear to have delivered a stunning rejection of election deniers and extremists in midterm contests.
Hobbs, the incumbent secretary of state, cast her matchup with Lake as a choice between sanity and “chaos.”
“Do we want to elect a governor whose entire platform boils down to being a sore loser — or a governor who’s going to get the job done for Arizona?” Hobbs said on the campaign trail, calling Lake her “election-denying, media-hating, conspiracy-loving, chaos-causing opponent.”
Hobbs served eight years in the Arizona Legislature before being elected secretary of state and gaining prominence in 2020 with her defense of Arizona’s voting system against a barrage of baseless fraud accusations that then-President Donald Trump and his allies thrust in the national spotlight.
Nov 14, 6:55 PM EST
McDaniel says she’ll run for another term leading RNC: Source
Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna McDaniel indicated Monday that she’ll run for another term atop the GOP.
A source familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News that McDaniel signaled her reelection bid on a call with members Monday morning, during which she said she would run if party members wanted her to and that she plans to move forward seeking reelection.
Her bid for the chairmanship, which will be decided in January, comes after disappointing midterm election results for the party.
McDaniel has served three terms atop the RNC and was first elected in 2017 with an endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
Should she win reelection, McDaniel would serve as party chair during the 2024 presidential election, which by party bylaws would force her to remain neutral during the race even if Trump, the de facto party leader, runs for a third time.
Nov 13, 9:47 PM EST
Hobbs’ campaign manager calls her ‘the unequivocal favorite’
Katie Hobbs’ campaign manager, Nicole DeMont, made the following statement after tonight’s vote drop from Maricopa County appeared to fall short of Republican Kari Lake’s hopes, not quite declaring victory for Hobbs but saying it’s going that way.
“With the latest tabulation results from Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties, Katie Hobbs is the unequivocal favorite to become the next governor of Arizona,” she said. “Katie has led since the first round of ballots were counted, and after tonight’s results, it’s clear that this won’t change.”
Hobbs, a Democrat, is leading Lake by about 26,011 votes in the yet-to-be-called race, according to unofficial county tallies so far. There are about 160,000 ballots left statewide.
Maricopa County dropped approximately 97,000 more ballots Sunday night, and Lake netted about 9,000 votes there. Just ahead of Maricopa, Pima County released another 12,000 votes, where Hobbs netted more votes. Pinal County also dropped 3,000 votes, giving Lake a slight boost.
-ABC News’ Libby Cathey
Nov 13, 6:24 PM EST
Election-denying candidate Doug Mastriano fully concedes in Pennsylvania race
Doug Mastriano, the election-denying candidate for Pennsylvania governor, officially conceded Sunday night to Democrat Josh Shapiro, the state attorney general, capping a week in which the state senator was silent about his defeat but never seemed poised to challenge the results, despite previously casting doubt on the integrity of the election.
“Difficult to accept as the results are, there is no right course but to concede, which I do, and I look to the challenges ahead,” Mastriano wrote in a statement. “Josh Shapiro will be our next governor, and I ask everyone to give him the opportunity to lead and pray that he leads well.”
Mastriano, one of the proponents of baseless claims of 2020 election fraud, suggested multiple times in the weeks prior to Election Day that he questioned the methods by which votes were counted this year.
In his concession statement, he argued that “Pennsylvania is in great need of election reform.”
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie and Oren Oppenheim
Nov 13, 1:42 PM EST
Cortez Masto celebrates Nevada Senate win: ‘I will always fight’
Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto took center stage on Sunday at the Carpenters International Training Center in Las Vegas to celebrate her victory in last week’s election, which ensured Democrats will retain control of Congress.
“Thank you, Nevada. Thank you. I am so grateful to every volunteer who knocked on doors, who made phone calls, who wrote postcards and letters and who had the courage to publicly stand up and fight for our state,” she said.
“To all Nevadans, whether you voted for me or not, I will always fight for you always,” she said.
Cortez Masto said her narrow win over Republican Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general and son and grandson of former senators, was not just about her but the people of the state, working-class families and the Latinos who have continued to support her throughout her time as senator.
“Like all of you, I’ve never forgotten where I come from and where my family came from … I will continue to fight for our Latino community,” she said.
More broadly, she said, “I cannot thank you enough for all of the time, commitment, effort — everything that you put into this election. Now we celebrate, and let’s continue the work.”
Laxalt has yet to speak or concede. He had acknowledged on social media that as vote-counting continued, Cortez Masto was narrowing the gap between them and could win.
-ABC News’ Abby Cruz
Nov 13, 1:26 PM EST
House progressives speak out after midterm results
Washington Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal told reporters on Sunday that in the wake of her party’s surprising midterm performance, in which they bucked history to limit their losses in the House, next year’s Congress will see the “most progressive Democratic caucus in decades.”
Jayapal, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), said at a news conference with newly elected lawmakers that her group will have 100-plus members come January.
She said that, despite the pattern of past cycles and the Biden White House’s unpopularity, there was “no red wave” and a majority of the CPC-endorsed candidates won their races so far.
Jayapal wouldn’t say if she’ll support Speaker Nancy Pelosi if the California lawmaker runs again for leadership — or if she herself will run for House leadership.
For the lame-duck session before the next Congress starts in January, Jayapal said her group’s goals include raising the debt limit and reviving the child tax credit. She said CPC is holding an executive board meeting soon to lay out a plan.
Incoming Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost — who will be the first Gen Z member of Congress — said at the news conference that what young people care about is not “anything different than anyone else.”
“The difference is the lens in which they see those same issues,” he said.
Control of the House remained unprojected as of Sunday as vote-counting continues.
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller
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