About 60 Uncalled House Races Will Set the Size of the Majority

Democrats won control of the House on Tuesday, but dozens of races remained uncalled on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press, NBC News and Politico. The outstanding contests will not change which party runs the chamber. They will decide how large the Democratic majority is.

Where things stand

On Wednesday morning, the AP had not called about 60 House races. NBC News’ tally showed Democrats with 231 seats and Republicans with 144, with the rest outstanding. A party needs 218 seats for a majority.

CBS News estimated early Wednesday that Democrats could finish with as many as 259 seats, though the final number could be lower.

Why it takes so long

California alone had 11 uncalled seats. Nearly every California voter receives a mail ballot, and ballots postmarked by Election Day count if they arrive within seven days. Each ballot must also go through a signature check. Counties have until early December to finish their counts.

Arizona, Washington and Colorado also rely heavily on mail voting and often take days to report final results.

Races to watch

CBS News and Politico highlighted several close contests involving well-known Republicans, including Rep. Lauren Boebert in Colorado’s 4th District and Rep. Anna Paulina Luna in Florida’s 13th District. Both faced Democratic challengers in races that were too close to call on Wednesday morning.

Other closely watched contests included seats in Arizona, California’s Central Valley and suburban districts in New York and Pennsylvania, where results depended on mail ballots still being processed. Analysts noted that some well-known incumbents in both parties could see their leads shrink or grow as those ballots are added.

The Senate holdouts

Two Senate races were also unresolved. Mississippi’s contest was essentially tied, and in Alaska, Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan held a narrow lead over Democrat Mary Peltola. Alaska will run its ranked-choice tabulation on Nov. 18 if no candidate tops 50 percent.

Why the margin matters

A larger majority gives Democratic leaders more room to pass bills when a few members defect. It also affects committee ratios, which determine how many seats each party holds on panels that write legislation and run investigations.

BURN VOC will update results as races are called. Leads in early counts can shift as later mail ballots are tallied.

Developing: some details in this report are preliminary or unconfirmed and are identified as such in the text.

Sources: Associated Press, CBS News, NBC News, Politico.