10:59 pm – Ron Johnson starting to separate from Barnes. Madison is almost entirely counted, so it's up to the remaining 38% of Milwaukee County. Marinette and Sheboygan will still have their say, as well.
If only I'd covered each of these counties with detailed reporting that could be found on National Review Online!
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa will defeat challenger Mike Franken to serve his eighth term in the Senate, CNN projects. Grassley will be 95 years old at the end of his next six-year term.
New York State Republican Committee chair Nick Langworthy will win election to the U.S. House in NY-23, the Associated Press projects.
Democratic Representative Elaine Luria will lose her reelection bid in VA-2, CNN projects. Republican state senator Jen Kiggans will defeat Luria, who is a member of the House committee investigating the Capitol riot.
New Hampshire is going to take forever to count, and it's hard to see that as a surefire or even likely Bolduc win. We're waiting on the official calls in Ohio and might have to wait on Wisconsin until tomorrow, but they look safe for the GOP. At this moment, Georgia looks like it's going to a runoff. If Colorado wasn't close, it's hard to see Washington state being close.
So control of the Senate likely all comes down to Arizona and Nevada.
With 71 percent of votes in, Republican challenger Herschel Walker is leading Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock in Georgia's US Senate race by extremely slim margins — 49.2 percent to to 48.9 percent. Warnock is a talented political operator, but his re-election bid has been dragged down by Stacey Abrams' ill-fated second run for Georgia governor, which she appears situated to lose by healthy margins. In that context, Walker's campaign is surely praying the Republican can break the 50-percent vote threshold necessary to avoid a runoff; a Warnock candidacy in a subsequent runoff would likely be more formidable than a Warnock candidacy in tonight's political environment, with Abrams' anchoring effect on the ballot.
During his misbegotten campaign for governor of Florida, Democrat Charlie Crist told supporters of incumbent Republican Ron DeSantis that he did not want their vote. ” “Those who support the governor should stay with him and vote for him and I don’t want your vote. ” With these results, he can say . . . mission accomplished, I guess?
With 88 percent of votes reported, Florida governor Ron DeSantis is up a whopping 19.3 points over his Democratic challenger, Charlie Crist. One of the major subtexts of the Florida governor's re-election bid this cycle is the possibility of a face-off between DeSantis and Donald Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential primaries. The shadow primary is already on — both would-be candidates are clearly positioning themselves for 2024. In that context, winning Florida by significantly larger margins than Trump's 2020 showing would be a feather in DeSantis' cap. If the race's final margins are anything close to what they look like with 88 percent of the electorate reporting, DeSantis is well on his way to securing that outcome.
Incumbent Senator Michael Bennet (D., Colo.) will defeat Republican Joe O'Dea in a closely-watched key Senate race, CNN projects.
Texas governor Greg Abbott will defeat Democrat Beto O'Rourke, according to a Fox News decision desk projection. O’Rourke has now lost three major political races in six years.