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:
Katie Hobbs' lead over Kari Lake narrows in Arizona's gubernatorial race
As of early Wednesday, Katie Hobbs' lead over Kari Lake in Arizona's gubernatorial race has narrowed to about three points, or roughly 40,000 votes, following the last big Election Day drop from Maricopa County for the night.
We won't see more votes from Maricopa County until Wednesday evening. As expected, more early votes are going to Hobbs, a Democrat who currently serves as Arizona's secretary of state, while more Election Day votes -- many of which still need to be counted -- are going to Lake, a Republican who previously worked as a television news anchor in Phoenix for 22 years.
The vibe at the Republican Watch Party in Scottsdale drastically changed over the course of Tuesday night. What started as a celebration packed with people ended with worried faces scattered around an empty ballroom. One attendee was overheard calling the night "so sad."
Only Lake and Abe Hamadeh, Republican candidate for Arizona's attorney general, briefly spoke to supporters at the event. Blake Masters, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, and Arizona Rep. Mark Finchem, the Republican candidate for Arizona's secretary of state, never took the stage, even though some attendees paid $1,000 to be there with them. Hundreds of red, white and blue balloons in a net above the stage were also never released.
Lake's team asked members of the press to hang around until 2 a.m. local time, when the ballroom reservation ended. But with the room largely cleared out by 12:30 a.m., it was clear Lake would not take the stage again. This was a stark contrast from primary night on Aug. 2, when Lake declared victory before any projection, took to the stage three times and had her team extend the ballroom reservation until 4 a.m.
"God did not put us in this fight because it was going to be easy," Lake told a crowd of hundreds in her single on-stage appearance on Tuesday night. "When corruption has risen to the level that it’s at right now, it takes tough, strong people. Are you tough and strong. Are you willing to continue this fight?"
"I think it will be within hours. We will declare victory, and we will get to work turning this around," she added.
"As they continue to come in and our numbers go up, up, up -- like they did last time -- when we win, the first line of action is to restore honesty to Arizona elections," she continued, firing up the crowd. "We will not stop fighting until we have every legal vote counted, so we're going to be patient. We're going to be patient guys. We're going to wait right now."
-ABC News' Libby Cathey
With votes outstanding, Cortez Masto says she's 'confident'
With the Senate race in Nevada yet to be called and some counties still counting votes, Democratic incumbent Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto told reporters early Wednesday that she's feeling "confident."
"The votes are still being counted," she said. "We know this will take time and we won't have more election results for several days. I am confident in this team. I'm confident in the campaign that we’ve built to win."
Currently, Nevada's Senate and governor races are extremely close; however, both show the Democratic incumbent in a slight lead over their opponent.
"We're not done yet," Cortez Masto told reporters. "Let's keep the positive energy flowing."
-ABC News' Abby Cruz, Matthew Fuhrman and Janai Norman
House and Senate majorities still up in the air
There are currently five Senate races, including Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, as well as a number of House races that have yet to be called.
Most are separated by razor thin margins and all will come down to counting the vote.
ABC News has not projected which party will control either the House or the Senate, and Republicans still could flip both chambers, which would be in line with past outcomes for the minority party in a midterm year.
Here are the key takeaways and race results so far.
McCarthy predicts Republicans will 'take the House back'
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., took the stage just after 2 a.m. ET on Wednesday to discuss the Republican Party's performance in the midterms so far.
"If you believe in freedom, hard work and the American dream, these results proved that there is a place for you in the Republican Party," he said.
While the balance of power in Congress has yet to be determined, McCarthy told supporters that "it is clear that we are going to take the House back."
As of early Wednesday, according to ABC News' projections, Republicans were estimated to have won 207 House seats to Democrats 188, with 40 more remaining unprojected.
"When you wake up tomorrow, we will be in the majority and Nancy Pelosi will be in the minority," McCarthy said to cheers from the crowd.