Handful of races remain undecided a day after midterms

A day after voters headed to the polls to cast their ballots, the outcomes from a handful of competitive races remain up in the air.

Eighteen races — two in the Senate, 15 in the House and one gubernatorial election — have yet to be called as final vote counts trickle in. In some cases, the candidates are hoping for recounts or even runoff elections.

Here’s a rundown of some of the key races left on the map:

Florida Senate

One of the most expensive and hard-fought races of the 2018 cycle barreled into Wednesday undecided.

{mosads}Republican Rick Scott, Florida’s two-term governor, led Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) by an ultra-thin 0.4-point margin, prompting the three-term Democrat to demand a recount.

In Florida, two candidates must be half a point apart to trigger an automatic machine recount or a quarter point apart to prompt a hand recount.

Despite Nelson’s call for a recount, Scott’s campaign insisted on Wednesday that the race was all but decided and accused Nelson of “desperately trying to hold on to something that no longer exists.”

Arizona Senate

Arizona presented Democrats with one of their best shots at picking up a GOP-held Senate seat. But the race between Reps. Kyrsten Sinema (D) and Martha McSally (R) carried on into Wednesday, with the Republican leading by less than 1 point.

There are still a few votes that need to be counted — most of them in Democratic-leaning counties, like Maricopa and Pima.

The two candidates would have to be within a tenth of a point of each other to trigger a recount.

House races

CA-10

Rep. Jeff Denham (R-Calif.) is locked in one of the closest House races in California. He currently holds a slim 1-point lead over his Democratic challenger, Josh Harder.

CA-25

Rep. Steve Knight (R-Calif.) could be on his way out of the House if Democrat Katie Hill holds her nearly 3-point lead.

CA-39

Republican Young Kim is leading Democrat Gil Cisneros by just under 3 points. If that lead holds, Kim could become the first Korean-American woman to serve in the House.

CA-48

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) is locked in a fight for political survival against Democrat Harley Rouda, who’s leading in the polls by just more than 1 point.

CA-49

Democrat Mike Levin is carrying a 4-point lead over Republican Diane Harkey in their race to succeed retiring Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). Still, there are a lot of votes to count.

GA-06

After a hard-fought special election last year that ended with a Republican win, Democrats are taking another stab at this Atlanta-area district. Rep. Karen Handel (R-Ga.) is currently trailing Democrat Lucy McBath by 1 point.

GA-07

Rep. Rob Woodall (R-Ga.) is locked in an ultra-close race against Democrat Carolyn Bordeaux. He’s currently leading by less than half a point.

ME-02

Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine) is struggling to hold back a challenge from Democrat Jared Golden in this vast Maine district. He’s holding on to a 0.1-point lead.

NC-09

Republican Mark Harris and Democrat Dan McCready are neck-in-neck in this southern North Carolina race. A libertarian candidate, Jeff Scott, has so far taken nearly 2 percent of the vote.

NJ-03

Rep. Tom MacArthur (R-N.J.) is fighting for his political life, with vote counts showing him and Democrat Andy Kim within 1 point of one another.

NM-02

Republican Yvette Herrell and Democrat Xochitl Torres Small are battling it out in this ultra-competitive House race. They’re currently within 1 point of one another.

UT-04

If Democrat Ben McAdams can hold on to his current lead in this race, it could spell the end of Rep. Mia Love’s (R-Utah) career in the House.

Georgia governor’s race

The gubernatorial race Georgia drew national attention as Democrat Stacey Abrams sought to become the first black woman elected governor in U.S. history. With 100 percent of precincts reporting, though, she’s trailing Republican Brian Kemp by a little less than 2 points.

Abrams isn’t conceding. She’s hoping that the race will go down to a runoff that’ll give her one more shot at defeating Kemp, Georgia’s conservative secretary of state.

In Georgia, a runoff election is triggered only if neither candidate receives 50 percent of the vote. With Kemp’s current count at 50.4 percent, he’s on track for a win — at least for now.