Some Mid-Term Races Are Still Up in the Air (in Photos)

Emma Sarappo
November 17, 2018
Nearly two weeks after Election Day, we still don’t know who will join the historic 116th Congress in every district.
Incoming Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and other freshman members of the 116th Congress pose for a group photo on Capitol Hill on November 14th, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

Last Tuesday, Americans headed to their polling places for decisive mid-term elections. Across the country, voter turnout spiked to historic levels. Races in deeply red states and districts turned competitive, like in Texas, where Beto O’Rourke finished just three points behind incumbent Ted Cruz in his Senate campaign, and some districts flipped entirely, like Virginia’s 10th district, where Democrat Jennifer Wexton took a closely watched seat from incumbent Republican Barbara Comstock. The House of Representatives, where Democrats secured a hard-won majority, is full of first-time representatives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez—the youngest woman ever elected to the House. The 116th Congress, as a whole, will contain the most women it’s ever had, plus the first Native American women in Congress, and the first Muslim women in the House.

Most notably, across the country, some elections dragged on for days after Election Night. In Arizona, it took almost a week to certify Kyrsten Sinema as the winner of the state’s Senate race—and Sinema is the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Arizona since 1988. The Mississippi Senate election will go to a runoff between a Democrat and a Republican. On Friday, November 15th, Democrat Stacey Abrams acknowledged she’d lost the governor’s race in Georgia to Republican Brian Kemp, the former secretary of state. Florida’s Senate race between Democrat Bill Nelson and outgoing Republican governor Rick Scott triggered a recount, and the election results won’t be formalized until next Tuesday. The governor’s race was hotly contested for days, but even with the recount, Republican Ron DeSantis is almost certain to win. Through all of this counting and re-counting, there were allegations of voter suppression, especially in Florida and Georgia.

Now that most of the elections have been certified, freshman members of Congress this week went to the capital for orientation, and both parties held caucuses and leadership votes as they waited for the final results to come in.

Incoming Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and other freshman members of the 116th Congress pose for a group photo on Capitol Hill on November 14th, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
Incoming Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and other freshman members of the 116th Congress pose for a group photo on Capitol Hill on November 14th, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

(Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) flashes a victory sign as she and Representative Ted Lieu (D-California) arrive for a Democratic caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on November 14th, 2018, in Washington, D.C. Democrats appear on track to gain between 35 and 40 seats in the House of Representatives once all the counting is complete, putting them in control of the chamber in 2019.
Representative Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) flashes a victory sign as she and Representative Ted Lieu (D-California) arrive for a Democratic caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on November 14th, 2018, in Washington, D.C. Democrats appear on track to gain between 35 and 40 seats in the House of Representatives once all the counting is complete, putting them in control of the chamber in 2019.

(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Volunteers look at ballots during a hand recount at the Supervisor of Elections Service Center on November 16th, 2018, in Palm Beach, Florida. After missing a deadline to recount votes for governor, a hand recount has been ordered for the Senate and agriculture commissioner's races.
Volunteers look at ballots during a hand recount at the Supervisor of Elections Service Center on November 16th, 2018, in Palm Beach, Florida. After missing a deadline to recount votes for governor, a hand recount has been ordered for the Senate and agriculture commissioner’s races.

(Photo: Saul Martinez/Getty Images)

Incoming Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and others attend a House of Representatives member-elect welcome briefing on Capitol Hill on November 15th, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
Incoming Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) and others attend a House of Representatives member-elect welcome briefing on Capitol Hill on November 15th, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

(Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) talks to journalists before heading into a Democratic caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on November 14th, 2018, in Washington, D.C.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) talks to journalists before heading into a Democratic caucus meeting in the U.S. Capitol Visitors Center on November 14th, 2018, in Washington, D.C.

(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-California) speaks following the House Republican leadership vote at the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on November 14th, 2018. Republicans in the House of Representatives elected McCarthy to lead the Republican lawmakers in the House as the new minority leader in a Republican-only vote on Wednesday.
Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-California) speaks following the House Republican leadership vote at the Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on November 14th, 2018. Republicans in the House of Representatives elected McCarthy to lead the Republican lawmakers in the House as the new minority leader in a Republican-only vote on Wednesday.

(Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

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