Midterm election: Senate control hinges on 3 states

• US President Joe Biden says voters have spoken and 'giant red wave didn't happen'
• Control of Congress still unclear as votes are being counted in several close races
• Democrats performed better than predictions expected
• The Senate race in Georgia will head to a runoff on December 6
• Still too early to call the Senate contests in Nevada and Arizona

This live updates article on the US midterm election has been closed. Here's how events unfolded on Wednesday, November 9:

Preliminary results showed that the Democrats have received more votes than forecasts had predicted, but with vote counting still ongoing in several pivotal states, control of Congress remains unclear for now.

The election outcome will determine what President Joe Biden will be able to accomplish during the second half of his term. 

The races in three key states — Arizona, Nevada and Georgia — will ultimately decide which party controls the Senate. It is still too early to call Arizona and Nevada, while Georgia is set for a runoff vote next month.

Meanwhile, Republicans appear on track to seize power in the 435-seat House of Representatives, albeit with lower numbers than forecasts had suggested.

Election projections based on Associated Press (AP) data.

Voters back abortion rights proposals

Voters in four states backed proposals to amend their state's constitutions to secure access to abortion rights.

In California, Michigan, and Vermont, voters strongly backed ballot initiatives — questions for citizens so they take a more active role in the direction in which laws are passed in either the state or the country —  that guarantee the right to have an abortion.

Voters in Kentucky, a Republican stronghold, also rejected a proposed amendment to the state's constitution that would have declared that there was no right to abortion. The development is especially significant as the state outlawed abortion in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision to overturn constitutional abortion rights in June.

In Montana, the fifth state abortion was on the ballot, initial counts suggest voters rejected proposed legislation to curb access to the procedure.

States targeted with misinformation post-election — monitoring group

The states of Pennsylvania and Arizona have been targeted by misinformation online, according to an analysis by media intelligence firm Zignal Labs.

Influential Conservative personalities like Charlie Kirk were among those who perpetuated false claims of voter fraud in Maricopa County in Arizona, where the Senate and governor races have yet to be called.

Officials in the county reported glitches with their voting equipment on Tuesday, with right-wing media and conspiracy theorist groups like QAnon circulating misleading or baseless rumors concerning ballot counts.

Users on social media also spread false information about alleged voter fraud in Pennsylvania, where the Senate race took outsized importance, according to Zignal Labs.

Midterms full of firsts for women, Black and LGBTQ candidates

US voters have elected a number of women, Black and LGBT candidates to positions of power, marking several historic firsts as representatives of communities that have been underrepresented.

The US will have 12 women governors for the first time. The last time there were as many women as governors was in 2004 when 9 women held the top state job, according to the Center for American Women and Politics.

Maura Healey, the first woman elected as governor in Massachusetts, is also the first openly lesbian candidate to be elected to the top office.

In Maryland, voters chose Democrat Wes Moore, who will be the state's first Black governor. He is only the third Black candidate in the country to be elected governor.

In Vermont, Democrat Becca Balint became the first woman and first LGBT person that the state has elected to Congress.

In New Hampshire, James Roesener became the first out trans man to win election to a state legislature in US history, according to the LGBTQ Victory Fund.

Biden says Tuesday vote was 'good day for democracy'

US President Joe Biden has welcomed the outcome of the midterm elections, noting that the outcome was far better than expected.

"It was a good day I think for democracy, and I think it was a good day for America," the president said. "Our democracy has been tested in recent years, but with their votes the American people have spoken and proven once again that democracy is who we are."

He praised record voter turnout and noted that the expectations of a strong showing for the Republican Party had not materialized.

"While the press and the pundits were predicting a giant red wave, it didn't happen."

The president also thanked young voters, saying that they had voted to address issues such as climate change and gun violence.

Biden also said he hoped Democrats and Republicans could continue the bipartisan approach of confronting Russia's aggression in Ukraine after the elections. He said he would invite members of both parties to the White House after returning from an upcoming overseas trip to discuss this approach.

Georgia Senate race goes to runoff

Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock will face Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a second round of voting in Georgia after both failed to secure a majority.

The final outcome in the runoff — scheduled for December 6 — could determine whether the Republicans or Democrats control the upper chamber of Congress.

Warnock, a 53-year-old Black pastor at a historic church, is seeking a full term after winning the seat in a runoff in January 2021. That win helped secure the Democrat's control of the Senate for the first two years of President Joe Biden’s term.

Walker, 60, is a former American football star backed by Donald Trump. His campaign was dogged by allegations of past domestic abuse and reports that he paid for the abortions of former girlfriends.

Democrat Laura Kelly reelected as Kansas governor

Democratic Governor Laura Kelly has won reelection in the state of Kansas, defeating Republican Derek Schmidt, the state's three-term attorney general.

"The people of Kansas sent a very clear message at the polls yesterday," Kelly said in a statement. "Kansans said we will keep moving forward as a state, full steam ahead — there will be no turning backward.''

"Perhaps above all, I believe Kansans voted today for civility, for cooperation, for listening to one another, and for a spirit of bi-partisan problem-solving, that's become all too rare in our politics today," she said.

Kelly's victory signals a bitter blow for Republicans, who had sought to tie her to President Joe Biden and soaring prices.

During the campaign, Kelly pointed to improved finances and greater spending on public schools in the state under her leadership. 

Republican Ron Johnson wins Wisconsin Senate seat

Republican Ron Johnson has defeated Democrat Mandela Barnes in the battleground state of Wisconsin, securing a third term in the US Senate. 

His win puts an end, for now, to Barnes' bid to become Wisconsin's first Black senator.

Johnson was one of former President Donald Trump's biggest supporters. He said earlier Wednesday that he had expected Republicans to do better in the midterm election, saying Democratic policies are "not good for America.''

"I'm surprised in Wisconsin my race was this close," Johnson said.

Johnson tried to paint Barnes as being weak on crime during the campaign, while Barnes sought to make the vote about abortion, highlighting Johnson's support for overturning Roe v. Wade.

The race in Wisconsin was one of a handful of tight Senate contests that could determine which party takes majority control.

Biden to deliver remarks on midterms

President Joe Biden says he will give a press conference on Wednesday afternoon after his Democratic Party performed better than expected in the midterm election.

Control of Congress is still undecided, and the final outcome will reshape the next two years of Biden's term. 

In a post on Twitter, he thanked "the poll workers and officials that worked into the night to safeguard our sacred right to vote," as well as the "millions who made their voices heard."

"Democracy doesn't happen by accident," he tweeted. "We have to defend, strengthen, and renew it."

Which states are the key Senate battlegrounds?

Control of the 100-seat Senate has come down to four key races that are still on a knife-edge on Wednesday. Here's a roundup:

In Wisconsin, Republican Ron Johnson is locked in a tight race with Democratic challenger Mandela Barnes. Johnson, who holds a narrow 1-point lead, has already declared victory. But The Associated Press has yet to call the race and Barnes has not conceded defeat. Barnes is seeking to become Wisconsin's first Black senator, while Johnson is running for a third term in office. The race is one of a handful of neck-and-neck Senate contests across the US that could determine which party takes majority control.

In Georgia, the battleground state with the largest Black population, Democrat incumbent Raphael Warnock is a pastor at Atlanta's famous Ebenezer Baptist Church where Martin Luther King preached. His opponent, Herschel Walker, was an American football player and a member of the 1992 US Olympic bobsleigh team; he was tapped to enter the political arena by former President Donald Trump. If neither candidate secures a majority, the race will head to a runoff on December 6.

In Arizona, Democrat incumbent and retired astronaut Mark Kelly is facing a challenge from Blake Masters, a young, Trump-backed protege of German-American billionaire and key Republican donor Peter Thiel. Opinion polls gave Kelly a slight edge, but the state tends to be closely contested.

In Nevada, America's first Latina Senator Catherine Cortez Masto is facing a tough re-election battle against Adam Laxalt, formerly a state attorney general. Polls were neck and neck in the build-up to voting. Both Arizona and Nevada conduct elections in part by mail ballots, which means the results in those states may not be known for days. 

Key House races undecided in New York

Five races for the US House are still undecided in New York, but Republicans appeared likely to claw back a large share of the state's congressional delegation from the Democrats.

One of the closely contested battles is in the Hudson Valley between Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney and his Republican challenger Mike Lawler, who held a slight lead Wednesday.

The winner has not yet been called, but Maloney — the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee — conceded the race early Wednesday in a phone call to Lawler, according to his campaign.

Republicans have won at least seven of New York's 26 congressional seats and are currently leading, or within a percentage point of the lead, in five other races. 

In another Hudson Valley district, Democrat Pat Ryan held a narrow lead over Republican Colin Schmitt. The winner in that race has not yet been declared, but Schmitt conceded, saying he hoped Ryan "will do great things for our Hudson Valley families.''

Vote count ongoing, 'red wave' falters 

Projections suggest Republicans will win enough seats to take the lower chamber of Congress, the House of Representatives, but Democrats performed much better than expected. 

Top Republican Kevin McCarthy, who hopes to become the House's next speaker, told supporters in the early hours of Wednesday: "It is clear that we are going to take the House back."

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the outcome was far from decided: "While many races remain too close to call, it is clear that House Democratic Members and candidates are strongly outperforming expectations across the country.''

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham conceded to broadcaster NBC that the election is "definitely not a Republican wave, that's for darn sure."

In the House, Democrats kept seats in districts from Virginia to Kansas to Rhode Island. Many districts in states such as New York and California had not yet been called.

Several new Republicans were elected in redrawn Florida districts. Twenty-five-year-old Democrat Maxwell Frost also won in his Florida seat, making him the first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress.

What is happening with the Senate?

A number of seats in the Senate, the upper chamber, are shaping up to be extremely tight races. It is still too early to call the key states of Wisconsin, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. 

Georgia could head to a runoff next month if no candidate reaches a majority. 

Democrats flipped the Republican-controlled Senate seat of Pennsylvania, with John Fetterman defeating Republican Mehmet Oz.

In Ohio, Republican JD Vance —  a venture capitalist and author of "Hillbilly Elegy," — won against Democrat and 10-term congressman Tim Ryan.  

All 435 seats in the House and one-third of the Senate were being decided in Tuesday's election. 

It is unclear when the final results will be announced. Vote counting could extend beyond Wednesday in some states.

rc, nm, los/aw (AP, Reuters)

Editor's note: An earlier version of this article under the subheading 'States targeted with misinformation post-election — monitoring group,' made reference to right-wing politicians and media spreading misinformation online. The text was amended on November 14, 2022, following a request from a PR firm linked to the Zignal Lab group, which noted that right-wing users were not the only ones posting misinformation and fraud allegations online.