Midterm election results updates: Dems keep control of Senate with Nevada win

Catherine Cortez Masto’s victory in Nevada clinched the chamber for Democrats.

The 2022 midterm elections shaped up to be some of the most consequential in the nation's recent history, with control of Congress at stake.

All 435 seats in the House and 35 of 100 seats in the Senate were on the ballot, as well as several influential gubernatorial elections in battleground states like Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Democrats were defending their narrow majorities in both chambers and retained control of the Senate, though control of the House isn't yet clear. But a Republican flip of the lower chamber would be enough to curtail most of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda and would likely result in investigations against his administration and even his family.

Key updates:

Here is how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 07, 2022, 2:51 PM EST

Warnock says Walker ‘neither ready nor fit’ for Senate

One day before Election Day, Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock slammed his opponent, Herschel Walker, who he said "is neither ready nor fit to represent the people of Georgia in the United States Senate."

"He's pretty good at making up things. And now he wants to get the rest of us to imagine with him that he is of the timber to be a United States senator,” Warnock said.

Democratic Senate Candidate Raphael Warnock gives a speech to supporters during a rally, Nov. 7, 2022, in Macon, Ga.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

Warnock said Walker's decision to campaign with divisive figures like Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, another Georgia Republican, should show Georgians the former football player will not be a unifier.

“Herschel Walker is demonstrating to you what kind of Senator he would be based on the company he's keeping,” Warnock said.

Split ticket voters will be key for Warnock's pathway to victory and he made a point to talk about reaching across the aisle.

"Let's bring this thing over the finish line. And let us not demonize those who do not share our political point of view,” he said. "We've got to find a way to pull this country together, to pull the state together, because the problems are too big and the stakes are too high.”

-ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa

Nov 07, 2022, 12:23 PM EST

Tom Cotton will not run for president in 2024

Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton said Monday he will not seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.

Cotton said a potential run would take him away from his two sons. The news was first reported by Politico and confirmed to ABC News by a source.

Over the past year, Cotton has traveled to several battleground states, campaigning for candidates. He's been to Iowa and New Hampshire, which host the party's first two presidential nominating contests.

Cotton's announcement was made days afterABC News reported that former President Donald Trump could announce a presidential bid as early as the week of Nov. 14.

Nov 07, 2022, 11:59 AM EST

Katie Hobbs said she’ll remain Arizona’s secretary of state despite GOP calls for her to step down

Arizona’s Democratic gubernatorial nominee, Katie Hobbs, said she would not recuse herself from her current position as secretary of state despite assertions from Republican candidates that her role as the state’s top election official is a conflict of interest as she runs for higher office.

“I took an oath of office to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution and laws of the state of Arizona. I have upheld that oath and I will continue to do so until I leave office on Jan. 2,” she told the Arizona Republic.

There is no legal requirement for Hobbs to step aside. A number of incumbent secretaries of state in Arizona have certified their own reelections.

"I don't see a problem with her being secretary of state and running for governor and recording the votes," former Republican Gov. Jan Brewer told the Arizona Republic about Hobbs. Brewer certified her own reelection as secretary of state in 2006. She became governor in 2009 when Democrat Janet Napolitano resigned to work in the Obama administration.

Hobbs’ race remains tight against her Republican opponent Kari Lake, a staunch proprietor of debunked allegations that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent. Lake told ABC News’ chief Washington correspondentJon Karl that she would accept the results of the election if they were “fair, honest and transparent.”

Nov 07, 2022, 11:51 AM EST

Trump says DeSantis should be reelected as governor

Former President Donald Trump said Sunday that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis should be reelected amid a mushrooming intraparty rivalry.

"The people of Florida are going to reelect the wonderful, the great friend of mine, Marco Rubio, to the United States Senate, and you’re going to reelect Ron DeSantis as your governor," Trump said at a rally in Florida Sunday to boost Rubio's reelection bid. DeSantis was notably absent from the event.

Trump's remark about DeSantis came a day after he branded the Florida governor with a less-than-flattering nickname while rattling off results from a poll of possible 2024 GOP presidential contenders.

"We’re winning big, big, big in the Republican Party for the nomination like nobody’s ever seen before," Trump said on Saturday. "Let’s see, there it is: Trump at 71. Ron 'DeSanctimonious' at 10%. Mike Pence at 7 — oh, Mike’s doing better than I thought."

Rumors about tension between the two GOP leaders had swirled for months as both eye possible White House campaigns.

Trump remains the GOP's de facto leader, keeping a stranglehold on the party's base even after leaving the White House. DeSantis has shot to conservative stardom during the coronavirus pandemic by rebuffing pleas for broader restrictions and leaning into a spate of culture wars embraced by Republican voters.

Neither has formally declared their 2024 ambitions and DeSantis still has to win his reelection bid on Tuesday. Sources have told ABC News that Trump could launch a presidential campaign later this month.

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