Democrat wins Senate seat in Arizona

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema has won the highly contested battle to replace outgoing Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona. Her GOP opponent, Martha McSally, conceded the race between the two U.S. representatives late Monday after Sinema pulled ahead by more than 30,000 votes. Sinema’s victory gives Democrats 47 votes in the Senate and flips a key seat to their side. Republicans could end up with at least 52 seats in the upper chamber if Florida Gov. Rick Scott’s narrow lead over incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson holds up during a recount in the Sunshine State. One other Senate race remains undecided in Mississippi, which will hold a runoff election between Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy on Nov. 27.

Meanwhile, Democrats continue to pad their newfound majority in the House. Harley Rouda claimed victory this week in California’s 48th District, unseating 15-term incumbent Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher. A handful of House races remain undecided.

Two governors’ races also remain undecided. In Georgia, a federal judge late Monday ordered the state to take steps to ensure provisional ballots aren’t improperly rejected and to wait until Friday to certify the state’s election results. Republican Brian Kemp leads Democrat Stacey Abrams by 1.48 percentage points, enough to claim the title of Georgia’s governor-elect, but Abrams refuses to concede until all ballots are counted. As is the case with Florida’s U.S. Senate race, votes in the tight battle for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum are being reviewed.

As Florida’s recount of these two key races continued to move along slowly Tuesday, additional voting irregularities surfaced and accusations of suspicious activity continued, especially in heavily Democratic Broward County. Broward Chief Circuit Judge Jack Tuter said Monday he could see no evidence of any violations and asked both sides to “ramp down the rhetoric.”