APPLENEWS - STORY ADD

Undecided races of the 2024 election: Live results and analysis

We're tracking unresolved races in the Senate, House and more.

Former President Donald Trump has won back the White House, and Republicans have won control of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. But we still don't know how big the GOP's Senate and House majorities will be, since there are still several races that don't have a projected winner. The outcomes of these elections could have major implications for how easy it will be for Trump to enact his second-term agenda.

However, it could be a while before we know who won these races. California — home to multiple undecided House races — is still working through counting all its ballots. Other races will require ranked-choice voting to resolve. And still others, like Pennsylvania's Senate race, could go to a recount.

We at 538 will be tracking it all on this live blog dedicated to all the outstanding races of the 2024 election. Join us for live updates, analysis and commentary until the last major race is decided.


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Kaptur looks to have survived in Ohio's 9th District

ABC News is reporting that Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur is projected to win reelection in Ohio's 9th District against Republican Derek Merrin. It was certainly a close-run thing for the incumbent, however: Kaptur leads by just over 0.6 points, 48.3% to 47.6%, which puts her lead a touch above the 0.5-point threshold necessary for a recount. With this projection, only four races have not yet been reported as projected: Alaska's at-large District, California's 13th District, California's 45th District and Iowa's 1st District. Chances are that Republicans will end up with somewhere between 220 and 222 seats, and Democrats will hold around 213 to 215 seats once all is said and done — nearly identical to the GOP's 221-214 edge entering the election.


California's 13th District race is on a knife's edge

Yesterday evening, California counties reported updated vote counts, which pushed the contest in the Central Valley-based 13th District to a nearly 50-50 split. Before the update, Republican Rep. John Duarte led Democrat Adam Gray by a touch over 1 point, 50.6% to 49.4%. But Gray's home base of Merced County added a little more than 11,000 votes to its tally that went for Gray 56% to 44%, while Stanislaus County added around 9,500 votes that broke about 54% to 46% for Gray. As a result, Duarte now leads by about 0.1 points, 50.06% to 49.94%.

The question naturally is how many votes are left, and my colleague Nathaniel estimated last night that roughly 6,500 remain, based on state and county reports regarding unprocessed ballots. In pure math terms, Duarte probably needs to garner at least 49% of those to retain the thinnest of leads, so he doesn't quite need a majority of what's left to win. But the good news for Gray is that about half of the outstanding votes are from Merced, where he holds a slight edge. Either way, this one is going to be so close that the trailing candidate will probably want a recount once the vote is certified. (California doesn't have automatic recounts; instead, any voter may file a recount request for a specified candidate.)


A minimum wage ballot measure has finally failed

As more ballots have been counted in California, the AP has finally made a projection for the Proposition 32 election: It has failed, 51% to 49%. Had it passed, this ballot measure would have raised the minimum wage in California to $18 per hour, the highest in the nation.

Minimum wage increases are usually popular at the ballot box: This is the first time that a statewide ballot measure to raise the minimum wage has failed in any state since 1996. (From 1998 to 2022, they went 24-for-24.) Voters may have felt that the increase was unnecessary, since California's minimum wage is already $16 per hour (and $20 per hour for fast food workers).


Some updates from Alaska

More ballots were counted in Alaska last night, and the ballot measure asking Alaskans whether they want to repeal their top-four primary and ranked-choice general election is now trailing, 50.03% to 49.97%. If that holds, it would be a big deal for election reformers, as they would at least keep a toehold in the Last Frontier after their efforts to expand this system to several other states failed at the ballot box this year.

Meanwhile, in the state's U.S. House race, Republican Nick Begich now has 48.5% of first-place votes and Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola has 46.3%. Based on 538's analysis of the Cast Vote Record, which contains data on second-, third- and fourth-place votes as well, Begich would beat Peltola about 52% to 48% in ranked-choice voting based on the data we have today. We won't need to wait long to find out what happens in reality: Those ranked-choice tabulations will officially be run tomorrow around 5 p.m. local time (9 p.m. Eastern).