We tracked the undecided races of the 2024 election

Republicans are on track to have a narrow 220-215 majority in the House.

Last Updated: November 27, 2024, 2:30 PM EST

We found out that President-elect Donald Trump had won the White House late on election night, but several downballot races across the country took weeks to be resolved. 538 reporters, analysts and contributors tracked all the late-breaking races as they were projected with live updates, analysis and commentary.

When the dust settled, Republicans won a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and the GOP looks like they’ll finish with a narrow 220-215 majority in the House. Other important races, from ballot measures to state Supreme Court elections, also went to recounts.

Read our full live blog of the post-Election Day count below.

Nathaniel Rakich Image
Nov 13, 2024, 10:12 AM EST

Democrats projected to win California's 49th District

Democratic Rep. Mike Levin is projected to win reelection in California's 49th District, ABC News reports. With 86% of the expected vote now counted, Levin leads Republican Matt Gunderson 52% to 48%. This outcome is unsurprising in two senses: The 538 forecast rated this district as "Likely Democratic" before the election, and over the past week, Levin has consistently led in the count — our partners at Edison Research who project races were presumably just waiting for enough of the vote to be counted before committing to a projection. The projection is still notable, though, as it brings Democrats up to at least 207 seats in the next House.

Nathaniel Rakich Image
Nov 12, 2024, 5:46 PM EST

When will we find out who controls the House?

Let's take a step back and look at where things stand in the House of Representatives. While control of the House hasn't been projected yet, Republicans are pretty clear favorites to reach the magic number of 218 seats eventually. They're currently at 215 seats to Democrats' 206. And out of the 14 still-unresolved races, Republicans currently lead in seven:

So when might we get the three Republican projections that would put them over the top? The biggest Republican lead is in California's 22nd District, and we're expecting to get another vote update there tonight; if it doesn't drastically cut into the GOP lead, that race might soon come off the board. We may also get a projection soon in Arizona's 6th District and California's 41st District, where late-counted ballots haven't notably diminished the Republicans' leads, although there are still thousands of ballots left to count. In Iowa's 1st District, counties will certify results today and tomorrow, but the race is within recount range, and Democrats have until Nov. 18 to request one, which could delay a projection (although recounts rarely change election results).

The remaining GOP-led districts could take longer to project — if Republicans even win them at all. In California's 13th and 45th Districts, Democrats have been gaining on Republicans as mail-in ballots have been counted, and they may very well pull into a slim lead by the end. And in Alaska's at-large district, ranked-choice voting will likely determine the winner, and ranked-choice tabulations won't take place until Nov. 20.

Nathaniel Rakich Image
Nov 12, 2024, 2:18 PM EST

Ranked-choice tabulations are underway in Maine

Today, Maine election officials started running ranked-choice tabulations in the still-unresolved race for Maine's 2nd Congressional District. However, it could take days before they are finished and able to declare a winner. If you want, you can watch the process live here:

We already know that Democratic Rep. Jared Golden received 196,189 first-place votes, Republican state Rep. Austin Theriault received 194,030 first-place votes, write-in candidate Diane Merenda received 420 first-place votes, and 12,635 ballots left the first choice blank. But because Maine uses ranked-choice voting, votes for Merenda and blank votes will be redistributed to the candidate those ballots ranked second (or third, if someone used their first two slots for Merenda and a blank). Because of the gap separating Golden and Theriault, there would need to be thousands of "hidden" Theriault voters among those blank ballots in order for him to win, which is quite unlikely.

Monica Potts Image
Nov 12, 2024, 10:09 AM EST

Republicans hold on in Arizona's 1st Congressional District

PHOTO: (R) Key Race Projected
ABC News

Late Monday evening, ABC News reported that Republican Rep. David Schweikert is projected to win reelection in Arizona's 1st Congressional District. The wealthy area outside of Phoenix is a GOP stronghold that had been trending more Democratic during the Trump era, giving Democrats hope they could flip the seat. But Schweikert, a seven-term incumbent who's been convicted of numerous campaign finance ethics violations during his tenure, is projected to hold on with 52% of the vote to Democratic physician Amish Shah's 48%, with nearly all of the expected vote reporting.

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