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Karah Rucker Anchor/Reporter/Producer
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U.S. Elections

Congress still in the balance after closer-than-expected midterms

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Karah Rucker Anchor/Reporter/Producer
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The red wave some had projected for the 2022 midterms does not appear to have come to fruition, with neither party taking control of either house of Congress early Wednesday morning. As of 5:30 a.m., the Senate was split at 48 a piece, and Republicans held a 199-172 lead in the House. While the GOP House lead is significant, it’s also well short of the 218 needed to take control.

As for the Senate, Republicans went into Tuesday night only needing a net gain of one Senate seat to take over the majority in a 50-50 Senate. However, the only Senate seat to flip as of early Wednesday morning was for Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman, who narrowly defeated Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz. Fetterman will now take over the seat vacated by GOP Sen. Pat Toomey.

“I never expected that we were going to turn these red counties blue,” Fetterman said early Wednesday morning. “But we did what we needed to do, and we had that conversation across every one of those counties.”

Fetterman’s win means Republicans now need to flip two Senate seats in order to take control of the upper chamber following the midterms. Those two flips need to happen in Arizona, Nevada or Georgia.

While the western states were still counting votes as of early Wednesday morning, it appeared the Georgia Senate race between Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker was headed for a runoff election in December. Sen. Warnock has a lead of less than on point as of early Wednesday morning, and neither candidate had reached the 50% threshold needed to win outright.

Despite the midterms being closer than expected, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy predicted that when it comes to the House, “when you wake up tomorrow, we will be in the majority and Nancy Pelosi will be in the minority.”

“We are on the verge of historic gains in New York. In Florida, we gained four seats alone, but we are poised to sweep the entire state of Iowa,” Rep. McCarthy said early Wednesday morning. “And I will tell you, from the southern border of Monica de la Cruz to Virginia Beach of Jen Kiggans to Detroit with John James and to Houston with Wesley Hunt, we are expanding this party.”

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CONTROL OF CONGRESS REMAINS A BIG QUESTION MARK THIS MORNING.
WE ARE STILL AWAITING RESULTS IN KEY RACES THAT WE’LL GET TO.
BUT FIRST…RESULTS FROM ELECTION NIGHT UPSETTING A PREDICTED RED WAVE.
GOOD MORNING I’M KARAH RUCKER.
AND HERE’S THE TOP TAKEAWAYS FROM ELECTION DAY.
51 SEATS IN THE SENATE AND 218 SEATS IN THE HOUSE ARE NEEDED FOR MAJORITY.
BUT AS OF THIS MORNING…WE’RE STILL AWAITING TOO MANY RESULTS IN ORDER TO CALL WHAT PARTY WILL CONTROL THE HOUSE OR THE SENATE.
BUT WE DO HAVE RESULTS IN SOME KEY BATTLEGROUND RACES.
ONE BEING THE SENATE RACE IN PENNSYLVANIA WHERE JOHN FETTERMAN WINS OVER REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER DOCTOR MEHMET OZ. A SENATE SEAT DEMOCRATS FLIP FROM RED TO BLUE.
REPUBLICANS NEEDED TO FLIP ONE SEAT TO TAKE THE MAJORITY COMING INTO THE NIGHT…NOW AFTER FETTERMAN’S WIN…THEY NEED TWO.
“I’ll be the next us senator from Pennsylvania (cheers) my promise to all of you is that I will never let you down. thank you Pennsylvania, thank you so much.”
ANOTHER HIGHLY WATCHED SENATE RACE COMES OUT OF OHIO.
REPUBLICAN J-D VANCE WAS ABLE TO OUST HIS DEMOCRATIC CHALLENGER TIM RYAN. A RED SEAT NOW SECURED AS REPUBLICAN.
“We’ve been given an opportunity to do something and that’s to govern and to govern to make the lives of people in ohio better and that’s exactly what I aim to do.”
KEY SENATE RACES TO DECIDE MAJORITY NOW LIE WITHIN NEVADA, ARIZONA AND GEORGIA.
IN ARIZONA…INCUMBENT SENATOR MARK KELLY LEADS REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER BLAKE MASTERS BUT WITH ONLY 63 PERCENT OF THE VOTES COUNTED.
AND IN THE NEVADA RACE THE REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE NARROWLY LEADS BUT ONLY 72 PERCENT OF THE VOTES ARE ACCOUNTED FOR.
TOO CLOSE TO CALL.
AND IN GEORGIA…THE RACE IS SO CLOSE — IT COULD GO TO A RUN-OFF.
INCUMBENT RAFAEL WARNOCK HAS A SLIGHT LEAD OVER REPUBLICAN CHALLENGER HERSCHEL WALKER.
BUT AS OF NOW…NEITHER CANDIDATE HAS A 50 PERCENT MAJORITY.
WHICH MEANS THIS RACE COULD GO TO A RUNOFF IN DECEMBER.
WE MAY NOT KNOW WHAT PARTY CONTROLS THE SENATE UNTIL THIS RACE IS CALLED.
NOW OVER TO THE HOUSE.
REPUBLICANS ARE EXPECTED TO PICK UP GROUND HERE…
BUT AGAIN THERE ARE RACES STILL TOO CLOSE TO CALL IT.
HOWEVER HOUSE MINORITY LEADER KEVIN MCCARTHY IS PREDICTING HE WILL TAKE OVER THE GAVEL WHEN ALL THE VOTES ARE COUNTED.
“It is clear we are going to take the house back, but there no time to waste, our work begins now. Let’s get America back on track. thank you, god bless, and goodnight.”
IT IS TYPICAL DURING A MIDTERM CYCLE TO SEE A FLIP OF POWER IN CONGRESS.
WHILE IT WAS LARGELY PREDICTED REPUBLICANS WOULD EASILY WIN GIVEN BAD POLLING ON INFLATION AND THE ECONOMY…
IT’S BEEN AN UPHILL BATTLE AND NAIL BITER TO THE FINISH LINE.