Key midterm races remain undecided with control of Congress on the line

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• Judy Woodruff:

  It is not over yet. More results from the midterm elections have trickled in today, but the ultimate majorities in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives remain in question.

  Geoff Bennett begins our coverage.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Another day of waiting, as margins remain narrow in three Senate races that will determine which party has control of the Senate for the next two years.

  In Georgia, where neither candidate surpassed the required 50 percent vote threshold, the lead-up to December's run-off election is already under way, the incumbent, Raphael Warnock, appealing to his Democratic base at a campaign event today.

• Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA):

  Over the next four weeks, I hope you will give me the opportunity to earn your vote. Every day I have served in the Senate, I have been thinking about the people of Georgia. And that's what I will do for the next six years.

• Geoff Bennett:

  And Republican Lindsey Graham speaking on Herschel Walker's behalf on FOX last night.

• Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC):

  And here's what I think. Warnock doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell if we will get behind Herschel Walker. He needs money. He got outspent 3-1.

• Geoff Bennett:

  Democrats still need two seats to maintain their majority, a reality possibly within reach, as states work to tally every vote.

  In Nevada, as of tonight, Republican Adam Laxalt is ahead of his Democratic opponent, incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto. Masto, whose seat Republicans had hoped to flip, was seen as vulnerable heading into the race. Laxalt played a role in Nevada's unsuccessful effort to overturn President Biden's victory in the 2020 election.

  Meantime, in Arizona, the Democratic incumbent, Mark Kelly, has the lead against his Trump-backed opponent, Blake Masters. It's a state where many people opted to vote early, prolonging the counting process for days.

  Vote counting also continued in House races across the country. While the most likely scenario is a single-digit majority for Republicans, Democrats are outperforming expectations in key races, Republican Lauren Boebert in Colorado, a Trump favorite, in a surprisingly close race with her Democratic opponent, Adam Frisch, that race still too close to call, but highlighting a broader trend of fewer voters aligning themselves with the former president at the polls.

  Republican Kevin McCarthy announced his intention of running for House speaker. The White House says President Biden called McCarthy last night, early signs of the new across-the-aisle relationship-building to come.

  For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Geoff Bennett.

• Judy Woodruff:

  For more analysis on the state of results in key races, let's go to Amna Nawaz and Lisa Desjardins.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Thanks, Judy. That's right.

  Well, there's still a number of House races that's yet to be called two days after voting has ended. But it's a good time to check in on the balance of power in the House of Representatives.

  Lisa is going to walk us through it.

  What do you know?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  What's going to happen?

  All right, here we go. This is the House chamber, of course, what we have right now; 209 seats have been called for the Republican Party, 189 for Democrats. Everybody knows you need 218 seats. So Republicans are still nine votes short. Slowly, slowly, these races are being called one by one.

  But we are still waiting to see exactly how this goes. And I will say, Amna, as you know, I have been tracking this not just by numbers of seats called, but in terms of who's gained, who's lost. Because of races called in the last day, in my tracker, I have the Republicans up nine seats net.

  They need five to take the majority. But, of course, there are still many races left. There are 28 seats, competitive seats, that we're watching. So, right now, Republicans gaining, but how much will they gain in the end?

• Amna Nawaz:

  I will say, Lisa, when you look at this, this is not exactly the red wave many people predicted.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Yes.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Democrats made some gains in some places, Republicans in others.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Right.

• Amna Nawaz:

  How did we get here?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Right.

  Let's talk about where Republicans gained. This is fascinating, everybody. So, first of all, when I look through what happened in the last — in this election, Republicans gained four seats in Florida. Now, Florida did pick up a seat because of the census changes, but just one.

  Republicans, how did they gain four? Ron DeSantis. The Republican legislature and the governor there changed the maps in a way that have benefited Republicans to the tune of four seats. Where else did they gain? In a blue state, New York. New York, they gained four seats also because of the maps.

  Democrats wanted a more partisan map. That was thrown out. A special master instead put together a less partisan map, and that has favored Republicans, moving back maybe toward a less partisan view of New York.

  Democrats gained two. That's why it's so close. Where did they do well? In the Great Lakes states, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, but that wasn't about the map, Amna. That was about the candidates. In many of these races, we saw extreme Republicans, supporters of President Trump, election deniers, and we saw them rejected by candidates, sometimes in Republican-leaning districts.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Lisa, we have mentioned to our audience again and again we're relying on the AP to make these calls.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Yes.

• Amna Nawaz:

  They do that based on math and facts.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Right. Right.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Still races to be called, according to them.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  That's right.

• Amna Nawaz:

  What are you tracking?

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Math and facts, let's look at both. All right, here we go.

  Fact, Republican Lauren Boebert in Colorado is now leading again. Last night, she was not. But this is a race that is still just about 700 votes difference between her and Adam Frisch. And right now, we have 98 percent or so of the expected vote, with more coming in. This one is really been a barn burner. And it could go — flip back again.

  But, right now, Representative Lauren Boebert probably feeling a lot better than she did last night. Now, let's look at another one of these states where a lot of the vote is still out California. Katie Porter, also a very well-known high-profile representative, she is leading in her race right now, but just 58 percent of the vote.

  Amna, these California races are going to take a long time. The largest group of races outstanding are in California. So that's going to be a problem for figuring out how big the majority is for Kevin McCarthy, right now, Katie Porter ahead.

  Let's look at one more, Nevada 3, Las Vegas. Susie Lee, she was up by less than a point last night when we checked in. She's gaining more. Now she's got — she's up by two points, a whopping two points.

  (LAUGHTER)

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Republicans, I talked to some who are involved in politics in that state who know this race well. They think they still have a chance in this race. They said, in Las Vegas terms, they have got to get an inside straight, but there are still ballots remain to be counted from Election Day, drop-off ballots.

  They think that could help them, but, right now, Susie Lee probably feeling pretty good, and Democrats too.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Those are House races as yet to be called.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Yes.

• Amna Nawaz:

  You are tracking other races as well in Arizona.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Yes.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Let's check out what's happening in the governor's race.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Right. This is such a marquee race. Katie Hobbs right now is still leading over Kari Lake.

  Let's do the calculation in my head really quick, 15,000 votes, a little bit less than that, 13,000 votes, 70 percent of the expected vote in. We expect an update from Maricopa County, where the majority of votes are in this state, in the next few hours. Again, this could be slow, but, right now, Katie Hobbs is holding on to relieve for that important gubernatorial seat.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Another big issue I know you're tracking.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  Yes.

• Amna Nawaz:

  Kari Lake is among those who falsely denies the results from the 2020 election, a so-called election denier.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  That was part of her campaign, yes.

• Amna Nawaz:

  You have been tracking those candidates.

  Tell me about where they stand.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  OK.

  Last night, we told folks that most of these gubernatorial candidates who have denied the 2020 election have lost their race. So let's look at something else. Now that they have been declared to have been defeated, all of these candidates, who has conceded that loss? Most of them have conceded.

  I looked at this, and I had to make some calls to figure this out. So it's interesting. These candidates who still doubt the 2020 election integrity, they are verifying the integrity of this year's election. They are verifying that they have lost. The margins were large enough. The election was fair, except for one, Doug Mastriano.

  Let's look at that race in Pennsylvania, the gubernatorial race. The margin there is enormous. Look at that, 14 points. He's still denying that race, but we will see if that changes in the days ahead, important because, obviously, he has followers who listen to him, but Josh Shapiro will be governor of state of Pennsylvania.

• Amna Nawaz:

  So incredibly important.

  Lisa Desjardins, staying on top of it all, thank you.

• Lisa Desjardins:

  You're welcome.