Election News

Mississippi Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith won the state's special election runoff Tuesday. Appointed when former Sen. Thad Cochran resigned last spring, Hyde-Smith will now serve out the remainder of his term. The seat will be up again in 2020.

With this result, the 2018 Senate elections have come to a close. The GOP maintains control, with a net gain of two seats in the midterm elections. They will go into 2019 with a 53-47 edge^a. Overall, six seats changed hands. Republicans won seats in Florida, Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota, while Democrats were able to take the seats in Arizona and Nevada.  

Note that you may hear that Republicans gained one seat (not two) during this election cycle. This is accurate, with the difference attributable to the 2017 special election in Alabama that saw a Democratic gain.

The final seat in the U.S. Senate will be decided today as Mississippi holds a runoff election. Polls close at 7:00 PM local time (8:00 PM Eastern). Live results will be available in the table below after that time. Reload the page for the latest totals.

The runoff is between Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith and her Democratic challenger, former U.S. Rep. Mike Espy. It was necessitated when none of the four candidates in the November 6th special election received a majority of the vote.

Incumbent Rob Woodall prevailed by 433 votes after a recount in Georgia's 7th congressional district. At the time, this was the final uncalled race and it appeared Democrats would have a 234-201 advantage in January when the new House is seated.

However, late today, our results partner Decision Desk HQ retracted their earlier call of a GOP win in California's 21st congressional district. They say that race is now too close to call.

"Rep. Valadao’s lead has shrunk from over 4,900 and 8% on 11/7 to just over 400 with thousands of additional ballots left to count in areas favoring Cox. It is still quite possible for Valadao to hold his seat, but if he does, it will be by a very, very slim margin, certainly not the margin inferred on election night."

Our results partner, Decision Desk HQ has called Utah's 4th congressional district for Ben McAdams. This is the 39th pickup for the Democratic Party. Only one race - Georgia's 7th district - remains uncalled.  Republican incumbent Rob Woodall is favored here; but the challenger Carolyn Bourdeaux has requested a recount.

Republican Will Hurd has won a 3rd term in the 23rd congressional district of Texas.  While, the vote remains very close, his Democratic challenger Gina Ortiz Jones conceded on Monday.

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson conceded the Florida Senate race Sunday afternoon. Gov. Rick Scott prevailed after two rounds of recounts. Republicans have secured 52 Senate seats compared to 47 for Democrats, ensuring the party maintains control of the chamber. The Mississippi runoff election will decide the final seat.

Six of the 34 races completed resulted in a victory for the out-party. Republicans picked up four of those wins, Democrats two. Click the image below to see all the results; you can then click any of the state for vote totals from that race. We also have an interactive version of the 2018 actual results.

Democrat Stacey Abrams effectively conceded defeat Friday afternoon, acknowledging that Republican Brian Kemp will be Georgia's next governor.  All 36 gubernatorial elections have now been called by our results partner, Decision Desk HQ.

Prior to the election, Republicans held 33 of the 50 governorships, with 16 Democrats and 1 independent holding the remaining seats. Democrats flipped seven seats, winning Republican-held seats in Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada and Wisconsin. The lone GOP gain came in Alaska.

Click the image below to see the results for all 36 elections. We also have an interactive version of the 2018 actual results.

August, 2020: You can now game this out for the 2020 election with the House State View feature.  Try it here for the current consensus forecast.

July, 2019: Michigan Rep. Justin Amash resigned from the GOP to became an independent in July, 2019, breaking the tie in that state's delegation.  It is now 7-6-1, with Democrats in the majority. Across the 50 states, Republicans have the majority in 26, Democrats 23, with one tie.

Original Article: Although a handful of districts remain uncalled, we now know which party will be in the majority in each state's 2019 U.S. House delegation. Republicans will have the majority in 26 states, while Democrats will have the most members in 22.  Two states, Michigan and Pennsylvania will be tied.  The concentration of Democratic districts in a small number of states gives the GOP a structural advantage in this count. They will hold the lead despite a Democratic majority overall.

However, this marks a significant improvement for Democrats relative to the current House, in which the GOP has a partisan edge in 32 states to 17, with Maine the lone tie. Come January, Democrats will be in the majority in five additional delegations: Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Maine and Virginia. 

Democrat Jared Golden has defeated incumbent Republican Bruce Poliquin in the closely-contested race for Maine's 2nd congressional district.  Golden prevailed via the state's ranked-choice voting process, which kicked in when none of the candidates received a majority of the initial vote in this four-person race.

Maine's largely rural 2nd district - the largest by area in the Eastern Time Zone - went for Donald Trump by 10 points in 2016. This earned the president an electoral vote in the state, which is one of only two that uses an allocation method other than winner take all.

The 2020 electoral battleground map starts out much broader than in any presidential contest since 1992, according to an analysis in the Axios AM Newsletter on November 15th, 2018. "To win re-election, President Trump must wage a two-front war: Not only does he have to defend Democratic-leaning Midwest states that sealed his victory in 2016, but he now needs to defend against clear Republican erosion in the South and Southwest."

Doug Sosnik, who did the analysis, says "Changing demographicsand Trump have blown up the electoral map that has dominated American politics since 1992."

An interactive version is below. Use it as a starting point to create and share your own 2020 election forecast.