Republican leaders are projecting confidence that they will keep control of the U.S. House as more races were decided in their favor Thursday, while Democrats insist they still see a path toward the majority and sought assurances every vote will be counted.
The Republicans won control of the U.S. Senate early Wednesday.
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Here’s the latest:
Election officials say key Maine race must go to ranked choice counting
Maine election officials say a pivotal congressional race in the state must go to ranked choice counting to determine a winner.
Maine Democratic Rep. Jared Golden, a moderate known for defying his party, led by a thin margin over Republican Austin Theriault on Friday in a race that was still too early to call days after voting ended. Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows said late Thursday that neither candidate broke 50% of the total vote, and that means ranked ballots must be counted. The Associated Press has not called the race.
Ranked voting typically comes into play in races with more than two candidates on the ballot. Golden and Theriault were the only candidates in the 2nd Congressional District race, but writing in candidates was an option, and some voters used it.
Theriault said on Thursday that he was requesting a recount in the election, although the results were not tabulated yet at that time. A spokesperson for the Golden campaign said the recount is reasonable but the ranked counting is unnecessary.
“State Rep. Theriault has asserted his right to a recount by hand and Congressman Golden agrees to it. So let’s just do it, rather than incur the delays and expenses of a ranked-choice run-off,” the campaign said in a statement.
The Theriault campaign signaled Friday that it was supportive of the ranked count.
“There is a process in place and we look forward to the process unfolding according to the law,” campaign manager Shawn Roderick said.
In ranked choice voting, the second choices of voters who picked a losing candidate are redistributed to the higher finishers.
Election night television viewership drops sharply from 2020 and 2016
The idea of grabbing some popcorn and watching television to see who America has chosen for its next president was far less appealing this year than in the past.
The Nielsen company said that 42.3 million people watched election night returns between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump pour in Tuesday night. That’s down sharply from the 56.9 million who watched in 2020, when Trump competed against Joe Biden, and the 71.4 million who tuned in on election night 2016, Nielsen said.
Election night is often known as the Super Bowl for TV news, but this year even the NFL’s conference championship games were watched by more people.
▶ Read more about election night television viewership
Who is Susie Wiles, Donald Trump’s new White House chief of staff?
With her selection as President-elect Donald Trump ’s incoming White House chief of staff, veteran Florida political strategist Susie Wiles moves from a largely behind-the-scenes role of campaign co-chair to the high-profile position of the president’s closest adviser and counsel.
She’s been in political circles for years. But who is Wiles, the operative set to be the first woman to step into the powerful role of White House chief of staff?
▶ Read more about Trump’s new Chief of Staff Susie Wiles
An update from the AP Decision Desk on the races in Nevada and Arizona
Nevada: The late updates Thursday in Clark and Washoe counties in Nevada didn’t add many votes to the tally in the races for president and U.S. Senate. The deadline for mail ballots to arrive and be counted is Saturday. With tens of thousands of ballots potentially still left to count in the state’s two biggest counties, the races are too early to call.
Arizona: Another day of vote counting in Arizona added tens of thousands of votes to the tally on Thursday, but there remain hundreds of thousands of ballots left to count — including nearly half a million in Maricopa County. Officials there are still working their way through advance votes that arrived in October. The races for president and U.S. Senate remain too early to call.
GOP picks up more key House seats while Democrats insist they still have a path to a majority
Republican leaders projected confidence Thursday that they will keep control of the U.S. House as more races were decided in their favor, while Democrats insisted they still see a path toward the majority and sought assurances every vote will be counted.
The GOP picked up two more hard-fought seats in Pennsylvania, which became a stark battlefield of Democratic losses up and down the ticket. Democrats notched another win in New York, defeating a third Republican incumbent in that state.
Both parties in the House huddled privately on conference calls to assess the political landscape as Congress prepared to return next week to a changed Washington, where a sweep of MAGA-infused GOP power is within reach for President-elect Donald Trump.
▶ Revisit Thursday’s House calls
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