Goodbye and thanks
By Samuel ChamberlainThat concludes The Post's live blog coverage of the national midterm elections. Stick with NYPost.com for the very latest on the remaining key races and the fight for control of Congress.
Thanks for reading.
Nearly 24 hours after polls began to close across the US, control of the House and Senate was still up for grabs — despite projections that put Republicans on track for big gains.
The GOP appeared set to gain a narrow majority in the House, but fall far short of the 227 seats projected by RealClearPolitics.
The Senate was also a toss-up Wednesday evening, with 49 Republicans and 48 Democrats projected to fill the chamber. Races in Arizona and Nevada could not yet be called, while a runoff in Georgia was set for Dec. 6 between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker.
DeSantis supporters cheer during an election night watch party at the Convention Center in Tampa, Florida. AFP via Getty Images
An election worker sorts ballots for the US midterm election, at Mesa County Central Services in Grand Junction, Colorado. AFP via Getty Images
Fetterman supporters celebrate his victory over Dr. Oz. Archie Carpenter/UPI/ShutterstocThat concludes The Post's live blog coverage of the national midterm elections. Stick with NYPost.com for the very latest on the remaining key races and the fight for control of Congress. Thanks for reading. Far-right Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) was about 2,200 votes behind Democrat challenger Adam Frisch in the race for the state's red-leaning 3rd Congressional District late Wednesday afternoon. Frisch held about 1.2% more of the vote than the first-term lawmaker with about 95% of expected ballots counted as of 4:30 p.m. Wednesday The Colorado district that sprawls across the western half of the state tends to lean right due to a large rural population that supported Boebert in 2020 over Democrat Diane Mitsch Bush.Goodbye and thanks
By Samuel Chamberlain Lauren Boebert trails Dem challenger with 95% of votes counted
By Caitlin Doornbos
Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) Director Jen Easterly issued a statement Wednesday decrying allegations of voter fraud or election misconduct as midterm results continue to trickle in across the country.
“We have seen no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was any way compromised in any race in the country,” Easterly’s statement read. “Right now, election officials are tabulating votes, reviewing procedures, and testing and auditing equipment as part of the rigorous post-Election Day process that goes into finalizing and certifying the results.
“It’s important to remember that this thorough and deliberative process can take days or weeks, depending on state laws; these rigorous procedures are why the American people can have confidence in the security and integrity of the election.”
The race to be mayor of Los Angeles was still undecided as of Wednesday afternoon with billionaire Rick Caruso holding on at 51.2% of the vote while outgoing US Rep. Karen Bass trailed just behind at 48.8%.
Only about 38% of the votes have been counted, NBC reported. Bloomberg reported Wednesday that record voter registration rates in the state could result in it taking several more days to sift through all the ballots.
According to CalMatters, mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day will still be counted through Nov. 15.
Caruso, a billionaire former Republican who reportedly funneled $100 million of his own money into his campaign, was a celebrity favorite in the run-up to the election, earning endorsements from Kim Kardashian, Chris Pratt and Snoop Dogg.
Bass, a career politician and former social worker, was backed by most of the Democratic establishment, including President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Barack Obama.
Republicans have yet to secure a House majority, but the jockeying for position has already begun.
Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), who easily won re-election Tuesday night, announced Wednesday he would mount a bid for majority leader that is unlikely to be contested.
“Now it’s time for us to focus on delivering for the American people who have trusted us with such a great task,” Scalise said in a letter to colleagues. “With America facing challenges both at home and abroad – now more than ever – we need to be united as we fight to deliver a better future for our country.
“With this bold, conservative agenda in mind, I am asking for your support to be the next House Majority Leader … I will work relentlessly to usher our vision through the House and show the country how conservative ideas can solve the problems that families are facing.”
Scalise, an eight-term congressional veteran, has long been considered the understudy to current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who announced earlier Wednesday he would seek to become House speaker if Republicans amass the necessary 218 seats.
Herschel Walker says he’s still racing at full speed.
“I’m like Ricky Bobby – I don’t come to lose,” he said, referencing the 2006 Will Ferrell comedy movie “Talladega Nights” at his suburban Atlanta watch party.
The former football hero pulled a line from a famous movie in another sport to show supporters he’s not giving up his chase of Georgia Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock, as their election contest heads to a likely runoff.
GOP Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell played his cards close to his vest on Wednesday, as he told a reporter asking about his party’s lukewarm midterm results that he doesn’t “deal in feelings.”
McConnell was spotted walking to his office Wednesday as Republicans struggled to make good on their hyped “red wave” as Democratic candidates showed up stronger than expected, NBC reported. When asked how he felt about the polls, he replied, “I don’t deal in feelings.”



“The question is, they’ve got to count the votes and then we’ll figure out where we are,” he continued.
McConnell’s comments came as former President Donald Trump reportedly railed against the stalled GOP takeover, as several of his endorsed candidates failed to clinch their seats.
Republicans picked up a Democratic House seat on Wednesday, as challenger Eli Crane upset Rep. Tom O’Halleran in Arizona.
Crane led O'Halleran with 53.7% of the votes compared to 46.3%, NBC reported.
Crane, a Navy SEAL veteran, was endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
O’Halleran previously represented the state’s 1st District, and only ran for the 2nd after redistricting, which placed him in a more conservative zone.
The White House passes along more calls from President Biden to winners and losers from last night:
The president has completed congratulatory calls to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM), Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine, and Rep.-elect Robert Garcia (D-Calif.).
Biden also spoke with Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who lost his New York race despite a better-than-expected night for House Democrats; Rep. Val Demings, who was defeated in her bid to unseat Republican Sen. Marco Rubio; Sen. Mark Kelly, who leads in his Arizona race; and Sen. Raphael Warnock, who faces a Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia against Republican Herschel Walker.
Biden has also tweeted for the first time today:
Democracy doesn’t happen by accident. We have to defend, strengthen, and renew it.
— President Biden Archived (@POTUS46Archive) November 9, 2022
I'll have more to say this afternoon, but thanks to the poll workers and officials that worked into the night to safeguard our sacred right to vote. And the millions who made their voices heard.
Former President Donald Trump ignored Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ crushing victory in the 45th president’s election night remarks — as other results spelled potential trouble for Trump’s path to the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.
Trump highlighted Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s similarly large margin of victory instead as he spoke around 10 p.m. from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach — as the national “red wave” predicted by most pollsters began to come up short.
“Marco had a fantastic evening at 58 to 41. That’s really — that’s really tremendous,” Trump said, turning heads after DeSantis outperformed Rubio by almost 2% and delivered a rousing victory speech hailing his “win for the ages” and laying out a national message.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised New York Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney shortly after he conceded his race, commending his leadership within the party in the run-up to midterm elections.
In a statement shared late Wednesday morning, Pelosi called Maloney "an outstanding leader" of the Democratic Congressional Campaign, NBC reported.
"It is a credit to his vision, his strategic thinking and his leadership that our Members and candidates had the mobilization, message and money to run excellent races and win in tough districts," Pelosi wrote of Maloney, who headed up the Democrats' campaign machine. "Republicans may have gained a Pyrrhic victory with this race because it has clearly come at the expense of other possible Republican wins."
Though many outlets have yet to make an official call, Maloney conceded his loss of the state's 17th District to opponent Michael Lawler as he was trailing close behind at 49.4% to 50.6%. As of noon on Wednesday, 98% of the votes were accounted for.
The US Senate race in Georgia will be settled in a runoff election next month after neither Sen. Raphael Warnock, the Democratic incumbent, nor Herschel Walker, his Republican challenger, won a majority of the vote in one of the highest-profile contests in the country.
“While county officials are still doing the detailed work on counting the votes, we feel it is safe to say there will be a runoff for the US Senate here in Georgia slated for December 6,” Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer in the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, tweeted early Wednesday.
With about 98% of the expected vote in, Warnock led Walker by 0.9% (49.4% to 48.5%), a difference of around 35,000 raw votes. Libertarian Chase Oliver was playing spoiler with 2.1% of the vote and slightly more than 81,000 ballots cast.