Election News

The 117th congress convened Sunday, January 3.

The 2022 Senate Interactive Map is live. 34 Class 3 seats will be contested in this next cycle.  20 of those are held by Republicans, 13 by Democrats. The Georgia special election runoff on January 5 - Loeffler (R) vs. Warnock (D) - will determine which party will be defending the last seat.  This special election is to complete the final two years of Johnny Isakson's term. Isakson resigned for health reasons at the end of 2019.

The new Senate will be seated January 3 and will initially be comprised of 51 Republicans and 48 Democrats. The Georgia seat currently held by David Perdue (R) - on its regular election cycle - will be vacant pending a separate January 5 runoff. Perdue is being challenged by Democrat Jon Ossoff.  

If Republicans win either of these runoffs, they will retain control of the Senate.

Most competitive states in the 2020 presidential election, with a comparison to 2016.  The faithless electors in 2016 are ignored for this analysis.

Decided by 5% or less

Eight states were decided by 5% or less in the 2020 presidential election.  This is down from 11 states (and one congressional district) in this category in 2016. However, the net change was only a reduction of 10 electoral votes. Georgia (16 electoral votes) was the only state added to the list in 2020. It was the closest state in the country, decided by about 0.25%. The other four states flipped by Joe Biden: Pennsylvania (20), Michigan (16), Arizona (11) and Wisconsin (10) were also decided by 5% or less in 2016.

Joe Biden won the electoral college vote Monday, affirming him as the president-elect.  California's 55 electoral votes put the former vice-president over the top.

With only Hawaii outstanding, the vote has gone smoothly, with all electors voting as pledged.

The ballots will be formally counted in a joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021. 

The Electoral College meets on the first Monday after the second Wednesday in presidential election years. This year, that date is December 14.  Electors will gather in their respective states (and District of Columbia) to cast their votes. Each elector will fill out two ballots, one for president and one for vice president.

After each state certifies the vote, it files a Certificate of Ascertainment that lists the slate of electors associated with each candidate and the number of votes received. The electors that meet Monday are those associated with the candidate receiving the most votes. For example, Biden won Massachusetts, so it is the slate of Democratic electors that will cast the vote.

As a practical matter, this means the Electoral College vote is largely symbolic; the final result is unlikely to deviate much (if at all) from the expected total of Biden 306, Trump 232. The votes will be forwarded to Congress, where they will be tallied in a joint session on January 6.

Hawaii became the final state to certify the results of its presidential election Tuesday, declaring Joe Biden the winner with 63.1% of the vote. All 50 states and DC have now certified their vote. As expected, president-elect Joe Biden emerged from this process with a 306-232 advantage in the electoral college.

Voters in Louisiana's 5th congressional district will elect a representative Saturday in a top-two election. None of the nine candidates in the November 3 all-party primary received a majority of the vote, forcing Saturday's runoff.  

This is a deep red district and both those who advanced to today's election are Republicans. Luke Letlow, who is the former Chief of Staff for the district's retiring representative, Ralph Abraham received 33% of the vote. State Representative Lance Harris finished second with about 16.5%. 

Polls close at 9:00 PM Eastern Time. Live results will appear below.

Arizona Democrat Mark Kelly was sworn in as a U.S. Senator Wednesday. Kelly had defeated Republican Martha McSally in the November 3 elections.  Since this was a special election - to complete the term of the late John McCain - Kelly became eligible to be seated once the state certified its election results. It did so on Monday.

The seat will be up again in 2022 for a regular six-year term.

The transition reduces the GOP majority to 52-48 for the remainder of this Congress. It will also be the count for the first couple days of the 117th Congress. The two other seats that flipped in November, Alabama D->R and Colorado R->D will offset. All eyes will of course be on the two runoff elections in Georgia on January 5. Republicans need to win one of those to maintain control of the Senate.

Voters in Georgia's 5th congressional district will elect a representative Tuesday via a special election runoff. This was the seat previously held by the late John Lewis.

The winner will only serve a month in Congress.

No candidate received a majority of the vote in the September 29 special election; forcing Tuesday's runoff. Advancing were two Democrats, Kwanza Hall and Robert Franklin. Hall led with 32% of the vote; Franklin finished 2nd with 28%.

Interactive maps for the November 3, 2020 general election. A few races remain uncalled as of this writing; the maps will update as elections are decided.

Election Results by State >>

President

States continue to certify the results. See the current certification map and calendar here.  The electors meet to vote in their respective states December 14. 

Five states Donald Trump won in 2016 were won by Joe Biden:  Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Michigan (16), Pennsylvania (20), Wisconsin (10). In addition, Biden won the electoral vote associated with Nebraska's 2nd district. Before accounting for faithless electors, the result is a mirror opposite of Trump's 306-232 win in 2016.

Senate

Democrats gained two seats (Arizona and Colorado) while Republicans flipped Alabama. None of these was a large surprise. The GOP was able to sweep the other seats seen as most competitive: Iowa, Maine, Montana and North Carolina. Control of the Senate in 2021 will come down to two runoff elections in Georgia on January 5. Republicans maintain control by winning either of these runoffs. 

The 117th Congress is expected to be seated on January 3. There will be seven new Senators sworn in that day:  Tommy Tuberville (R, AL); Mark Kelly (D, AZ); John Hickenlooper (D, CO); Roger Marshall (R, KS); Ben Ray Lujan (D, NM); Bill Hagerty (R, TN); Cynthia Lummis (R, WY). 

House

Democrats will retain control but with a notably smaller majority. Heading into the election, the party held a 233-201 advantage, with one Libertarian. As of this writing, that number is 222-209, with four seats uncalled. NY-1 seems almost certain to stay in GOP hands, which will make it 222-210. The other three races are incredibly tight. See the latest results below the map. 

Aside from two seats gained through court-ordered redistricting in North Carolina, the only Democratic flip was in GA-7. Republicans have won back at least 10 seats they lost in 2018. With these gains, Republicans will have the majority of House delegations in 26 or 27 states, while Democrats will have 20. Currently, the GOP edge is 26-23.

The 117th Congress is scheduled to be seated on January 3. Speaker Pelosi's majority will get even more narrow after that, at least temporarily.  At least one member, Cedric Richmond (LA-2) has been tapped to join the Biden Administration; he is expected to resign before January 20.