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:
DOJ monitors will stay outside of polling places in Florida
Department of Justice election monitors will be positioned outside of Florida polling locations following a letter the DOJ received Monday from the Florida Department of State.
The letter said the DOJ election monitors, who planned to observe polling places in three counties for compliance with federal voting rights laws, are not permitted to go inside the locations, per Florida law. The letter cited a Florida statute that lists who can enter a polling place and “Department of Justice personnel are not included on the list.”
Monitoring of polling places by the DOJ Civil Rights Division is very common and will take place across 64 jurisdictions in 24 states this year.
During the 2020 election, the DOJ under Trump monitored five counties in Florida.
-ABC News’ Alex Mallin and Jay O’Brien
JD Vance casts ballot
J.D. Vance, the Republican nominee running in a tight Ohio senate race against Rep. Tim Ryan, cast his vote in Cincinnati Tuesday morning.
Vance told ABC News that he has "nothing to say" to his opponent but he hopes Ryan is "doing OK.”
Vance said his message to undecided voters is: are they “happy with the direction of the country and has your life gotten better last couple of years? Because I think if the answer is no, then you should get out there and vote for me. We have an opportunity to push the country in another direction.”
Vance told reporters he thinks Monday night's rally hosted by former President Donald Trump helped his campaign.
“The big thing we hope to get out of it is just to boost turnout. I think we're in a position where we'll win this race so long as people get out there and vote,” Vance said. “People just aren't happy with the direction that Biden administration. They don't want a rubber stamp for Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi. They want an independent voice for the people of Ohio. And I think that the good thing about last night, or at least one good thing about last night, is that it really reinforced that we could take this country back -- we just have to get people out there to vote.”
-ABC News’ Paulina Tam
Fetterman, Oz vote in Pennsylvania
John Fetterman, lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania and Democratic Senate candidate, cast his vote Tuesday morning in his hometown of Braddock, just outside Pittsburgh. Fetterman, who drove himself in his pickup truck, didn’t answer any questions from reporters.
His opponent, Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz, voted Tuesday morning in the upscale Philadelphia suburb he has called home for two years, making brief before being whisked into an SUV.
"Pennsylvania is sending a very clear message to Washington. We want less radicalism and more balance, so I encourage everyone to vote. It's your duty," Oz said.
Oz ignored questions from the large group of reporters, including whether he had a response to the lawsuit brought Monday night by Fetterman’s campaign. The suit seeks to allow undated or wrongly dated mail ballots to be counted.
-ABC News’ Eva Pilgrim and Will McDuffie
What to expect if Republicans take control of the Senate
With FiveThirtyEight forecasting a slight edge for a GOP takeover in the Senate -- and with momentum solidly behind Republicans -- what would that mean?
In short, big changes and a Biden presidency instantly having to play defense.
Read more here.
-ABC News' Trish Turner