Midterm election results updates: Dems keep control of Senate with Nevada win

Catherine Cortez Masto’s victory in Nevada clinched the chamber for Democrats.

ByAlexandra Hutzler, Tal Axelrod, Emily Shapiro, Morgan Winsor, Isabella Murray, Meredith Deliso, Nadine El-Bawab, Julia Jacobo, and Stephanie Guerilus
Last Updated: November 15, 2022, 5:21 AM EST

The 2022 midterm elections shaped up to be some of the most consequential in the nation's recent history, with control of Congress at stake.

All 435 seats in the House and 35 of 100 seats in the Senate were on the ballot, as well as several influential gubernatorial elections in battleground states like Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Democrats were defending their narrow majorities in both chambers and retained control of the Senate, though control of the House isn't yet clear. But a Republican flip of the lower chamber would be enough to curtail most of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda and would likely result in investigations against his administration and even his family.

Key updates:

Here is how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 07, 2022, 3:14 PM EST

White House says Trump is not 'our focus' amid reports of 2024 bid

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Monday pushed back on questions about former President Donald Trump's expected 2024 bid.

"I was asked this question the other day, and that's not our focus," she said.

Trump is leaning toward announcing a third run for the White House, possibly as early as the week of Nov. 14, sources with direct knowledge of the matter previously told ABC News.

At Monday's briefing, Jean-Pierre also wouldn't give any insight into whether Trump's pending announcement will force Biden's hand on making his own reelection decision. Biden has said he intends to run for a second term, though hasn't made a formal decision.

"Again, I'm going to say what he has said many times and what I have said from here many times is that the president intends to run and I will just leave those words there," Jean-Pierre told reporters.

-ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

Nov 07, 2022, 3:09 PM EST

White House says it's 'safe' to go to the polls, doesn't foresee threats

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday there were no "specific credible threats" about a possible uprising this election cycle. "The president has been briefed on the threat environment and directed that all appropriate steps be taken to ensure safe and secure voting occurs right in this process," Jean-Pierre said.

She cited a speech President Joe Biden gave last week against "political violence and voter intimidation."

"You heard him say this last week, in his speech, and many times before: You can't love your country only when you win," Jean-Pierre said.

"But I want to be clear: Americans should feel safe going to the polls," she said.

"It is important for Americans to do so. The administration has taken the issue of threats to the safety of voters and election officials seriously from day one," she said.

Late last month, Attorney General Merrick Garland was asked about reports of possible voter intimidation in Arizona and said, "The Justice Department has an obligation to guarantee a free and fair vote by everyone whose qualified to vote and will not permit voters to be intimidated."

-- ABC News' Cheyenne Haslett

Nov 07, 2022, 3:08 PM EST

WH urges patience with results, says Biden will address midterms on Wednesday

President Joe Biden will address the midterms on Wednesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a briefing on Monday, but she did not give specifics of how he will do so -- at least in part because she said the full results of the elections will likely not be known by then.

People cast early ballots at an Ann Arbor, Michigan, city clerk's satellite office on Nov 7, 2022.
Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images

Urging patience, Jean-Pierre said it’s important for people to understand that a days-long counting process is a sign that that the system is working as it should.

An official ballot collector for the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections gives a voter their "I Voted" sticker after depositing their mail-in ballots into a collection box in Cleveland, Nov. 6, 2022, ahead of the midterm elections.
Dustin Franz/AFP via Getty Images

Jean-Piere also declined to offer any specifics on how the president will spend his Election Day but said he “will have a full schedule here at the White House.”

-ABC News’ Jordyn Phelps

Nov 07, 2022, 2:51 PM EST

Warnock says Walker ‘neither ready nor fit’ for Senate

One day before Election Day, Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock slammed his opponent, Herschel Walker, who he said "is neither ready nor fit to represent the people of Georgia in the United States Senate."

"He's pretty good at making up things. And now he wants to get the rest of us to imagine with him that he is of the timber to be a United States senator,” Warnock said.

Democratic Senate Candidate Raphael Warnock gives a speech to supporters during a rally, Nov. 7, 2022, in Macon, Ga.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Warnock said Walker's decision to campaign with divisive figures like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, another Georgia Republican, should show Georgians the former football player will not be a unifier.

“Herschel Walker is demonstrating to you what kind of Senator he would be based on the company he's keeping,” Warnock said.

Split ticket voters will be key for Warnock's pathway to victory and he made a point to talk about reaching across the aisle.

"Let's bring this thing over the finish line. And let us not demonize those who do not share our political point of view,” he said. "We've got to find a way to pull this country together, to pull the state together, because the problems are too big and the stakes are too high.”

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa