Two days after the US midterm elections, here are the key races that have yet to be decided and why.

Two days after polls closed in the US midterm elections, many close races are still undecided and congressional control is still up in the air.

Thousands of votes are yet to be counted in some of the country’s most high-profile constituencies, where Democratic and Republican candidates are battling head-to-head. In addition to Congress, high-profile gubernatorial elections are just around the corner, including Arizona, Nevada, and Oregon.

Here are the races still undecided as of Thursday night and how long it will take to get results.

The race that could determine control of the Senate heads to a runoff vote on Dec. 6.

Both Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker received more than 50% of the vote, but after Libertarian Chase Oliver got 2%, they were automatically recounted under state law. It was conducted.

It’s a case of déjà vu for Warnock, who won a seat alongside fellow Georgia Senator John Ossoff in the 2021 runoff election, becoming the state’s first Democratic Senator in 20 years. Unlike Ossoff, Warnock served the remainder of his six-year term vacated by the retirement of Republicans, but is now seeking his first term.

Warnock narrowly overtook Walker on Tuesday with about 35,000 votes, creating a fierce rivalry that could get even tighter as the two campaigns head into the runoff. Both parties are expected to pour millions of dollars into their respective campaigns.

Last year’s runoff vote in Georgia evenly split the Senate, and Vice President Kamala Harris tied the ballot, giving Democrats control of the House. Given the results of other Senate elections not yet convened, a victory for Warnock in December would mean another 50-50 split, giving Walker 51 seats to Republicans.

The Southwest states are the most scrutinized states this week, with prominent Republican governors and Senate candidates battling to survive amid a very slow ballot-counting process.

In the gubernatorial race, Kari Lake leads her Democratic opponent, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, by about 22,000 votes. The margin is wider in the Senate race, where Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly leads Republican Blake Masters by more than 105,000 votes.

By Thursday night, only 70% of the votes had been counted. Election officials said they were still waiting to count the hundreds of thousands of mail-in ballots delivered just before or on Election Day.

“This is how it’s done in Arizona, and it’s been for decades,” said Bill Gates, the Republican chairman of the Maricopa County Oversight Board, who oversees the state’s largest counties, including Phoenix. said he works 14 to 18 hour days and will continue into the weekend.

“We’re doing everything we can to maintain accuracy,” Gates told the Associated Press.

Masters, and Lake in particular, agreed with the false allegations of systemic election fraud promoted by former President Donald Trump, who endorsed both candidates. Officials have accused the count of walking slowly, as Gates denied.

Lake promised to call members of Congress to a special session as soon as he was sworn in to make major changes to Arizona’s election laws. She wants to slash early voting and mail-in ballots, which her eight elect to at least 10 of her Arizona voters, and hand count all ballots.

In Arizona, the Democrats are leading by a narrow margin, but in Nevada it’s the opposite, with Republican challengers trying to usurp the incumbent Democratic governor and senator.

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83% of polls report that Adam Laxalt leads Senator Catherine Cortez Masto by 15,000 votes, while Gov. Steve Sisolak leads Republican Joe Lombardo by more than 34,000 votes.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria, who is responsible for elections in counties including Las Vegas, assured reporters on Thursday that counts were being done as quickly as possible. They point to long lines and record numbers of mail-in ballots on Election Day as reasons for the delay.

In 2020, Nevada significantly expanded absentee ballots and sent ballots to all registered voters. The state has passed legislation to do so in future elections as well.

Ballots are still coming in the mail, and in accordance with state law, county elections officials statewide will count mail-in ballots received by Saturday as long as they are postmarked on Election Day. Authorities need to finish counting by November 17th.

Democratic candidates have already vowed to get back to work, but the unexpected gubernatorial run in a typical Democratic hometown was too close.

Tina Kotek received 80% of the total votes, leading Republican challenger Christine Drazen by more than 57,000 votes.

Portland, in particular, has seen record levels of violent crime among homeless people after months of protests following the 2020 killing of George Floyd.

Kotek told reporters on Thursday that he plans to tour the state in January to hear from local leaders and promised to work on housing and mental health. He responded by pointing out that hundreds of thousands of votes were not counted.

Next Tuesday is the last day election officials will receive valid postmarked ballots in the mail. In a state with 3 million registered voters, tens of thousands of uncounted ballots may still be mailed.

If Kotek wins, she will become the first publicly elected lesbian governor in the United States with Maura Healy of Massachusetts.

The northernmost state will elect a Republican senator, but it is not yet known which candidate will fill the role.

Neither incumbent Senator Lisa Markowski nor her Trump-backed opponent, Kelly Chibaka, managed to crack 50% of the vote.

In the process, the candidate with the lowest number of votes on the first ballot is eliminated, and voters who select that candidate as their top pick replace their votes with their second pick. These qualifying rounds continue until two candidates remain, and the one with the most votes at the end wins.

Murkowski and Tshibaka are expected to once again top the results after being well ahead of Democrat Pat Chesbro on Tuesday.

Chibaka was endorsed by Trump as a revenge candidate against Murkowski, who voted to convict Trump in the second impeachment trial. Currently, Tshibaka leads his Murkowski with about 3,000 votes, his 80% of polls report.

The battle for Alaska’s General House seat is also set to advance to the ranked selection rounds after Democratic incumbent Mary Peltra won 47% of the vote.

That race includes Republican former Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who was one of the early supporters of Trump’s first presidential campaign. But she appears to have split the Republican vote with Nick Begic, leaving room for Pertola to win again later this month.

Many other fierce competition for seats in the House of Representatives likewise left control of that House in the air, but the Republicans still seemed poised to seize control with a narrow majority. rice field.

Here are some of the notable figures fighting for victory.

• Lauren BobertThe Republican agitator, one of Congress’s far-right conservatives, is embroiled in an unexpectedly fierce race for Colorado’s precincts, which could lead to a recount. Boebert lost to moderate Democrat Adam Frisch by less than 100 votes on Wednesday, but regained the lead on Thursday by about 1,000 votes. In Colorado, a recount is ordered if the gap is 0.5% of him.
• Democratic Party of California Katie PorterThe left-wing star in an in-depth survey of business executives with visual aids leads Republican Scott Boe by about 1,500 votes and accounts for just over half of all poll reports. increase.
• Excluding Porter, 17 of California’s 52 congressional districts are hotly contested. But among them, only the 41st district could see incumbents ousted, like Republicans. Ken Calvert — Holds seat since 1993 — follows Democrats Will Rollins Over 7,500 votes.

— with files from The Associated Press