Republicans received a rare boost Friday as several closely watched midterm races were called in their favor.
As of Friday afternoon, The Associated Press had called 254 races for Democrats and 162 for Republicans, up from 155 on Thursday afternoon. Nineteen House contests remained undecided.
Among the races called Friday were Republican victories for Rep. Jeff Hurd in Colorado, Mark Lamb in Arizona and Anthony Constantino in New York’s 21st Congressional District.
Constantino, who ran in the upstate district of retiring Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), had already claimed victory at his Election Night watch party.
Democrats led in roughly half of the remaining undecided House races, leaving open the possibility that they could expand their already sizable majority.
Republican incumbents still at risk of losing their seats included Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.), Brand Finstad (R-Minn.), Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.) and Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.).
A lawyer for Boebert’s campaign alleged “unusual voting patterns” late Thursday in the congresswoman’s race against Democrat Eileen Laubacher and said he expected the contest to go to a recount.
“Since election night, ballot returns have been trending in Congresswoman Boebert’s direction, consistently lowering the margin under one percentage point,” Scott Gessler, Colorado’s former secretary of state, said in a statement. “We are investigating some very unusual voting patterns and expect this election to head to a recount, one way or another.”
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Democrats had picked up at least 42 seats.
Two Senate races, in Alaska and Mississippi, remained too close to call.
Democrat Mary Peltola held a 0.3-percentage-point lead over incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in Alaska, a margin of roughly 600 votes, with 74% of ballots counted in the ranked-choice contest.
In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom continued to lead incumbent Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 0.3 percentage points, or approximately 2,500 votes, with 97% of ballots counted.
“We are not backing down,” Hyde-Smith wrote defiantly on X Friday. “This election is not over. Our team is working across Mississippi to monitor the remaining ballots and protect the integrity of the process.
“We will see this through to the very end!”
Democrats had so far secured a 54-44 majority in the upper chamber.
