As Election Day threatens to turn into Election Weeks, a handful of House races are still waiting to be called that can determine how large a majority Republicans will have.
Four House races remain uncalled, with three in California and one in Alaska. The Democratic challenger recently conceded in Colorado’s race for Rep. Lauren Boebert’s seat but is yet to be called by news outlets.
California
In the Golden State, major races in the 3rd, 13th, and 22nd Congressional Districts are waiting to hear results. Many factors, such as deadlines and insufficient ballot processing equipment, are among the reasons for the delay, according to Dave Wasserman, House editor of the Cook Political Report.
“If every state ran elections like Florida or Texas, we’d know the total House count within 24 hours of the polls closing, or less,” Wasserman told the Washington Examiner. “But between late ballot return deadlines and slow ballot processing, CA’s results look more like molasses than well-functioning machinery.”
In California alone, there were nearly 22 million registered California voters by mid-October, according to figures from the California secretary of state. As of Monday, 921,429 ballots remain to be counted statewide, according to the secretary of state’s unprocessed ballot report.
All three major California races are leaning Republican, per the Associated Press. Republican Kevin Kiley is facing Democrat Kermit Jones for representing California’s 3rd Congressional District. The district is leaning in Kiley’s favor, but 82,200 ballots still need to be counted in Placer County, the district’s largest county. Across the district in total, Kiley is up over Jones, 52.1% to 47.9%.
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Republican John Duarte and Democrat Adam Gray are vying for the 13th Congressional District’s seat, with Duarte holding a narrow lead at 50.3% of the vote compared to Gray’s 49.7%. As of Nov. 14, around 1,000 votes are left to be counted in Merced County, the district’s largest county.
In the 22nd Congressional District, Rep. David Valadao (R) is facing Assemblyman Rudy Salas (D). As of Monday, 40,557 ballots remain to be counted in the district’s three counties: Kern, Kings, and Tulare. Valadao has a slight edge over Salas, 52.7% to 47.3%.
Colorado
In Colorado, Adam Frisch, Democratic challenger to Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) for the state’s 3rd Congressional District, conceded on Nov. 18. After over two weeks of counting, Boebert received just shy of 50% of the vote.
Despite the race qualifying for a recount under state law, Frisch called Boebert to concede, which she confirmed, saying she will now focus on “conservative governance in the House majority.” However, the race has not been called by news outlets.
Alaska
Alaska’s at-large House seat is still waiting to be called, with Rep. Mary Peltola (D) holding a significant lead over Republican candidates Sarah Palin and Nick Begich. Peltola is running for a full two-year term in the House after she won a special election to replace the late Rep. Don Young, who died in March.
Peltola has 48.7% of the vote, with Palin at 25.8% and Begich at 23.4%.
According to the state’s ranked choice voting system, voters can rank all candidates in order of preference on their ballots, per the Wall Street Journal. If no candidate gets a majority of the first-choice votes, the fourth-place finisher is eliminated, and votes from their supporters’ second choices are redistributed to the other candidates.
The process is repeated until a candidate gets more than 50% of the vote. The ranked choice tabulation is scheduled for Wednesday.
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Republicans, who already secured a majority in the House with 219 seats, are waiting to see how slim their majority will be.
