Election Countdown: Recount prospects grow in Florida | Abrams team to sue over absentee ballots | Dem wins pivotal Georgia House seat | A look at the uncalled races | Corporations spend big to beat ballot measures

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We’re 726 from the 2020 elections. But there is still some unfinished business from Tuesday’s midterms.

 

Two days after Election Day, Floridians are still wondering who their next senator will be.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and his Republican challenger, Gov. Rick Scott, are separated in the polls by a little more than 17,000 votes, making a recount all but a certainty. The question is what kind of recount will it be? In Florida, a margin of 0.5 percent or less triggers a machine recount, while a margin of 0.25 percent or less forces a recount by hand.

{mosads}On Wednesday, Nelson hired attorney Marc Elias, a prominent elections lawyer, to counsel him through a recount. Speaking to reporters on a conference call Wednesday, Elias seemed bullish about the senator’s chances of securing a win, arguing that a hand recount was virtually inevitable.

Nelson’s allies have cast the recount as a chance to make sure all legally cast votes are counted.

Meanwhile, Scott’s campaign has declared victory. They’re accusing Nelson of trying to “steal” the election, arguing that the votes that separate them are insurmountable.

It could be days before Floridians see a clear outcome from the Senate race.

 

Recount fever is also spreading to the Florida governor’s race. Democrat Andrew Gillum conceded to Republican Ron DeSantis on Tuesday after polls showed him trailing by roughly 1 point. But new vote counts show the margin closing to 0.47 points. That’s within the range that would trigger a recount. On Thursday, Gillum opened the door to one.

Whether that margin holds remains to be seen. County election officials in Broward and Palm Beach are still sorting through vote-by-mail ballots and most counties are working their way through provisional ballots. But what’s certain is that two close races in the Sunshine State appear to be getting even closer.

 

While Florida is grappling with likely recounts, the state’s neighbor to the north is dealing with an unsettled gubernatorial race.

Republican Brian Kemp has declared victory as Georgia’s next governor and resigned as secretary of State earlier today. But Democratic nominee Stacey Abrams and her team remain defiant, saying they’ll continue fighting until all votes are counted.

Her team is focused on uncounted provisional and absentee ballots. A lawyer on her legal team announced at a Thursday press conference that they’re readying a lawsuit in Dougherty County. He’s alleging that some requested absentee ballots were received late because of Hurricane Michael and that ones delivered late and submitted past the deadline should be counted.

 

Here’s where the vote tally currently stands: nearly 63,000 votes separate Kemp and Abrams and the Republican is slightly above the 50-percent threshold that would trigger a Dec. 4 runoff. But at Thursday’s press conference, Abrams’s campaign manager made it clear they weren’t backing down: “We are in this race until we’re convinced that every vote is counted.”

 

Senate races

In addition to Florida’s Senate race, the Arizona Senate race is also unsettled with more outstanding ballots expected to be posted by the Arizona secretary of State’s office. As of late Thursday afternoon, McSally was ahead of Sinema by 1 point, or 17,073 votes.

 

There was another bright spot for Democrats: Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) held off a tight challenge from GOP state auditor Matt Rosendale. The race had increasingly tightened as President Trump and his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. made repeat trips to Big Sky Country to help Rosendale. This was the third time Tester won the Senate race by under 50 percent.

  

House races

It’s been 48 hours since Election Day, but some toss-up races are still being called, while others remain in limbo. Here’s the latest on races where Democrats flipped a seat:

 

Calif.-25: Rep. Steve Knight (R-Calif.) conceded to Democrat Katie Hill on Tuesday, handing Democrats a huge pick-up and adding to their House majority. Hill is a first-time candidate and former nonprofit executive of a homeless services agency.

 

Ga.-06: Gun control activist Lucy McBath (D) unseated Rep. Karen Handel (R-Ga.) in the Atlanta suburban district. In the nationally watched 2017 special election, Handel claimed the seat after a victory over Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath’s election flips Georgia’s sixth district from red to blue for the first time in 30 years. McBath was motivated to run for the seat after her 16-year-old son was shot and killed. Her campaign received financial support from gun control advocates, including former New York City Mayor and billionaire donor Michael Bloomberg.

 

N.M.-02: Attorney Xochitl Torres Small (D) narrowly defeated state Rep. Yvette Harrell (R) in an upset to flip the seat vacated by GOP Rep. Steve Pearce, who unsuccessfully ran for governor. Small was initially trailing, but after a day of counting thousands of absentee ballots, she took a narrow lead and claimed victory.

 

N.C.-09: Democratic veteran Dan McCready conceded to Republican Mark Harris in the race to replace GOP Rep. Mark Pittenger. Harris, a pastor, had knocked off Pittenger in a GOP primary earlier this year. Democrats had been angling to pick up the 9th District, with McCready outraising and outspending Harris.

 

Wash.-08: Pediatrician Kim Schrier (D) defeated former Republican state Sen. Dino Rossi, to flip the seat being vacated by outgoing Rep. Dave Reichert (R-Wash.). Hillary Clinton won the suburban Seattle district by 3 points in 2016.

 

Uncalled races (all races have 100 percent of precincts reporting, unless otherwise specified):

Calif.-10: Rep. Jeff Denham (R) leads Democrat Josh Harder, 50.6 to 49.4 percent.

Calif.-39: Republican Young Kim leads Democrat Gil Cisneros, 51.3 to 48.7 percent.

Calif.-45: Rep. Mimi Walters (R) leads Democrat Katie Porter, 51.6 to 48.4 percent.

Calif.-48: Democrat Harley Rouda (D) leads Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R), 51 to 49 percent.

Maine-02: Rep. Bruce Poliquin (R) leads Democrat Jared Golden, 46.2 to 45.6 percent, with 94 percent of precincts reporting.

Texas-23: Rep. Will Hurd (R) leads Democrat Gina Ortiz Jones, 49.2 to 48.7 percent.

Utah-04: Democrat Ben McAdams leads Rep. Mia Love (R), 51.3 to 48.7 percent, with 70 percent of precincts reporting.

  

Mississippi Senate runoff

Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) is out with a new ad reminding voters that even with the holidays approaching, Mississippi has an upcoming runoff for the Senate special election . “Right now, I know everyone is getting ready for Thanksgiving and thinking about family, food and football, not politics. I want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving and also remind you we have an important Senate runoff election on Nov. 27.”

Hyde-Smith was appointed in April to fill the seat vacated by former Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.). She faces former Agriculture Sec. Mike Espy (D) in the Nov. 27 runoff after none of the four candidates running on Nov. 6 cleared the 50-percent threshold to avoid a runoff.

Hyde-Smith ran slightly ahead of Espy in Tuesday’s jungle primary, which allows all candidates to run regardless of party affiliation. She’s favored to hold onto the seat for Republicans.

  

Ballot measures

Corporations and business groups spent hundreds of millions in this week’s midterm elections to defeat ballot measures that would have harmed their bottom lines, reports The Hill’s Reid Wilson.

Groups supporting or opposing ballot measures in states across the country spent at least an incredible $1.1 billion in 2018, according to data from the online political database Ballotpedia.

  

Race for the White House

Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) is mounting a run for the White House, Politico reports. An aide to Swalwell didn’t confirm the report, but said that the three-term congressman has been floating a possible run for months and that he could announce a decision sometime in the first part of 2019. While he hasn’t made a formal announcement, Swalwell’s allies have been touting his political investments in Iowa in recent weeks, and he’s set to make another trip to the state this weekend.

 

The Hill’s Election Countdown was written by Lisa Hagen, Max Greenwood, Kenna Sturgeon and James Wellemeyer.