Democrat wins N.H. Senate, Republican takes Ohio Senate

NBC News Exit Poll: Fetterman drew support from voters of color to win Pennsylvania Senate race

John Fetterman drew support from several core Democratic constituencies on his way to winning the Senate race in Pennsylvania, the NBC News Exit Poll found. He won 90% of Black voters, 70% of voters under age 30, and 67% of Latino voters.

Fetterman also did very well among voters citing abortion as the issue mattering more to their vote. Abortion proved to be a key focus in Pennsylvania, as more voters cited it as important to their vote than any other issue.

Republican Mehmet Oz fell short in convincing Pennsylvania voters that he had lived in the state long enough to serve it effectively in the Senate, with 56% saying he had not, compared to 42% who felt he had, the exit poll found. Oz moved to Pennsylvania in 2020, after living in New Jersey for several decades.

Pennsylvanians were more confident in Fetterman’s ability to serve the state effectively, despite his health challenges. Fetterman is recovering from a stroke he suffered in May. Half of Pennsylvania voters said that Fetterman is in good enough health to represent the state effectively, compared to 47% who said he is not.  

Pennsylvania voters were also slightly more likely to find Oz’s views more extreme that Fetterman’s.

Gretchen Whitmer hints at victory; Tudor Dixon does not concede

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer stopped short of declaring victory but hinted that she’s on the verge of another four years in Lansing.

The upbeat incumbent thanked supporters for staying awake and enthusiastic past 1 a.m. ET.

“I thank you for being here until the wee hours of the morning, and I don’t know if you want to come back for a little press conference in the morning,” Whitmer said. “But we will be ready to talk about what the future of this state is for the next four years.”

GOP challenger Tudor Dixon urged her supporters not to lose hope: “We expect counting to continue into tomorrow in our major counties. This race has a long way to go.”

Shortly after Whitmer spoke, she was leading Dixon 52.1% to 46.2%, with 71% of the vote counted.

Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers wins re-election in a closely watched race against Republican Tim Michels

Wisconsin Democratic Gov. Tony Evers has won re-election to a second term, NBC News projects, narrowly defeating Republican businessman Tim Michels.

The race between Evers, who was elected in 2018, and Michels, a co-owner of a successful family pipeline construction company, had long been expected to be one of the closest contests in the country, and it will have major implications in the state for the future of abortion rights and elections. 

On those issues, as well as others, like education, guns and criminal justice, the candidates offered starkly different policies throughout the race.

Read the full story here.

Sen. Mike Lee defeats independent Evan McMullin in Utah Senate race

Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has been elected to a third term, NBC News projects, beating independent candidate Evan McMullin.

Lee, 51, had been expected to win, although the race had become increasingly competitive in recent weeks. Utah votes entirely by mail.

McMullin, 46, is a former CIA operative who ran unsuccessfully for president in 2016. He had the backing of the state Democratic Party.

Former President Donald Trump endorsed Lee in the days leading up to the election. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, on the other hand, remained neutral.

“I just placed a call to Senator Lee and acknowledged that he’s won re-election,” McMullin told supporters at his Election Night headquarters in Taylorsville. “I truly hope that he upholds his oath to the Constitution in his upcoming term.”

Rep. Anthony Brown makes history in Maryland

Democrat Anthony Brown, a lawyer who has been a House member since 2017, has won his race for attorney general of Maryland, NBC News projects. He makes history by being elected as the state’s first Black attorney general.

Brown defeated Republican Michael Peroutka, who reportedly had ties in the past to the nationalist group the League of the South.

Democrat Wiley Nickel defeats GOP candidate Bo Hines in N.C.

Democrat Wiley Nickel defeated Republican candidate Bo Hines in North Carolina’s open 13th Congressional District, NBC News projects.

Wiley, 46, a state senator, and Hines, 27, a former college football player backed by former President Donald Trump, were vying to replace Republican Ted Budd in the House. Budd won his race for the Senate on Tuesday, NBC News projects; he’ll replace retiring Republican Sen. Richard Burr.

Wiley’s win flips the swing district seat to Democrats.

Arkansas and North Dakota vote against legalizing marijuana

Voters in Arkansas and North Dakota have rejected ballot measures that would have legalized marijuana use for adults, NBC News projects. 

Maryland, Missouri and South Dakota also have referendums allowing voters to decide whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

Maryland votes to legalize recreational marijuana

Maryland has passed a ballot measure to legalize recreational marijuana, NBC News projects. 

Voters decided to amend the state constitution to legalize recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and older, starting in July.

Arkansas, Missouri, North Dakota and South Dakota also have referendums allowing voters to decide whether to legalize the recreational use of marijuana.

Senate and gubernatorial races in Alaska too early to call

Alaska’s races for the Senate and the Governor’s Mansion are too early to call.

In the Senate race, incumbent Republican Murkowski faces Democrat Patricia Chesbro.

The gubernatorial fight pits incumbent Republican Mike Dunleavy against Democrat Les Gara.

Arizona’s Kari Lake fuels claims of incompetence and corruption by election officials

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake took the stage for the first time tonight at the Arizona Republican watch party outside Phoenix, adding fuel to claims of incompetence and corruption following glitches with vote-tabulation machines in Maricopa County earlier in the day.

“We have another stark reminder that we have incompetent people running the show in Arizona,” she said, referring to her opponent, Democratic Secretary of State Katie Hobbs.

Lake’s legal team joined a coalition of Republicans who filed an emergency motion earlier in the day to extend voting hours to 10 p.m. A judge blocked the motion, saying there was no evidence that anyone was “precluded the right to vote.”

Across the state, no widespread fraud was reported.

Still, Lake joined a chorus of Republicans claiming “cheaters and crooks” were behind issues at polling stations Tuesday.

“God did not put us in this fight because it was going to be easy,” she said, adding: “When corruption has risen to the level that it’s at right now, it takes tough, strong people.”

Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey loses re-election bid

Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., has lost his re-election bid to Republican Thomas Kean Jr., NBC News projects.

Malinowski, a U.S. diplomat during the Obama administration, was elected to Congress in 2018.

Kean, a former state senator whose father was governor, had made three unsuccessful runs for Congress — including in 2020, when he nearly beat Malinowski.

Connecticut approves early voting

Connecticut voters approved a ballot measure that will allow for early voting, NBC News projects.

The passage allows the General Assembly to pass legislation establishing in-person voting before the day of an election.

GOP representative who lost to Democrat in Texas tells voters: ‘You did not do your part!’

A Republican congresswoman expressed deep frustration with GOP voters early Wednesday after she conceded defeat in her Texas race.

“The RED WAVE did not happen. Republicans and Independents stayed home. DO NOT COMPLAIN ABOUT THE RESULTS IF YOU DID NOT DO YOUR PART!” Rep. Mayra Flores tweeted. Flores lost to Rep. Vicente Gonzales, NBC News projects, in what was considered one of the key toss-up races.

Fetterman wins Pennsylvania Senate race, defeating Oz and flipping key state for Democrats

NEWTOWN, Pa. — John Fetterman, the state lieutenant governor, has won Pennsylvania’s high-voltage race for an open Senate seat, defeating celebrity TV doctor Mehmet Oz, bringing an end to one of the nastiest and most expensive campaigns of the year as both parties treated it as a potential tipping point for control of the chamber.

Fetterman will succeed Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican who opted against seeking re-election.

The race was shaped largely by two factors: Fetterman’s stroke days before he won the Democratic primary in May and the unrelenting barrage of outside money, including tens of millions of dollars Oz’s GOP allies spent to brand Fetterman as soft on crime. 

Read the full story here.

NBC News Exit Poll: Many Texas voters support transporting migrants to other states

Gov. Greg Abbott stirred national controversy over his policy of transporting migrants from the Texas border to blue cities in the Northeast. According to the NBC News Exit Poll, more voters casting ballots in the race for governor said thts was a good policy (50%) than a bad policy (43%). 

But when asked which issue was most important to them, Texas voters prioritized inflation and abortion over immigration.

Overall, 55% of voters said they approved of the job Abbott was doing as governor, boosting him to re-election. More Texas voters said they trusted Abbott to handle border security than Democratic challenger Beto O’Rourke.

Abrams concedes to Kemp in Georgia governor’s race

Democrat Stacey Abrams has called Gov. Brian Kemp to concede the Georgia governor’s race, according to a spokesman for Kemp.

After Kemp narrowly beat Abrams in 2018, she initially would not concede the race and accused him of voter suppression tactics.

House control too close to call; NBC News Decision Desk releases estimate

Although NBC News cannot project control of the House, the Decision Desk has released its estimate for the House as a whole, which reflects the most probable outcome for partisan control. NBC News estimates that the Republicans will win 219 seats, with a margin of error of 13 seats.

A party needs 218 seats to control the chamber.

To arrive at the House Estimate, the NBC News Decision Desk calculates the probability of a Democratic, Republican or third-party victory in each of the 435 House races based on pre-election research. On election night, election analysts examine all the available vote data in real time, adjusting the probabilities for each House race accordingly. Based on those probabilities, NBC News’ Decision Desk then calculates the most probable outcome for control of the chamber and provides a margin of error plus or minus the number of seats either party could still win.

The Decision Desk will project partisan control of the House based on this estimate when we are at a minimum 99.5% confident in the outcome.

Nevada judge denies Cortez Masto’s request to extend voting hours

A judge in Nevada rejected a request late Tuesday by Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee for polls in Clark County to remain open for an additional two hours.

Some precincts in the county ran out of printer paper to print ballots earlier in the day. Polls were originally scheduled to close at 7 p.m. local time and will remain closed.

Cortez Masto and the DSCC asked for polls to remain open until 9 p.m. They cited other jurisdictions across the country where polls remained open late because of issues at some precincts, including in Connecticut, Virginia and New Hampshire.

NBC News Exit Poll: Arizona voters skeptical of false election claims embraced by GOP candidates

Arizona’s voters expressed high confidence in the state’s election count and the legitimacy of President Biden’s 2020 win, overwhelmingly rejecting the questions raised by the state’s GOP candidates about the integrity of the election process, the NBC News Exit Poll found.

Republican candidates Kari Lake (governor), Blake Masters (Senate) and Mark Finchem (secretary of state) have all publicly raised questions about Biden’s 2020 win and cast doubt on the integrity of the voting process. But voters disagreed: By 63% to 35%, Arizonans said Biden legitimately won the presidency. And 73% said they were confident that elections in Arizona are being conducted fairly and accurately; 26% were not confident.

NBC News characterized all three races — for governor, for the Senate and for secretary of state — as too early to call when polls closed in Arizona.

Democratic Gov. Tim Walz wins re-election in Minnesota

Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, a Democrat, has won re-election to a second term, NBC News projects.

Walz, a former House member, defeated Republican challenger Scott Jensen, a physician and former member of the state Senate.

Election deniers lose secretary of state races in Michigan and Minnesota

Election deniers have lost their races for secretary of state in the battleground states of Michigan and Minnesota, NBC News projects.

In Michigan, Democratic incumbent Jocelyn Benson has defeated Republican Kristina Karamo. In Minnesota, Democratic incumbent Steve Simon has defeated Republican Kim Crockett.

Karamo has repeatedly cast doubt on the result of the 2020 race and has dabbled in discredited conspiracy theories surrounding it.

Karamo, 36, a part-time educator at a Detroit-area community college, worked as a Detroit poll challenger in 2020. In that role, Karamo claimed she witnessed fraudulent absentee ballot-counting, later testifying before a Michigan Senate committee investigating election fraud allegations (the panel found no evidence of widespread or systematic fraud in the state’s election). Karamo has also said she believes that Donald Trump won Michigan in 2020 (Joe Biden won the state by more than 154,000 votes) and that left-wing anarchists planned the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Meanwhile, Crockett has called the 2020 election results in Minnesota illegitimate and said the 2020 election was “rigged” in fundraising materials for her campaign.

Democratic Rep. Vicente Gonzalez wins in Texas’ 34th District, defeating Republican Rep. Mayra Flores

Democrat Vicente Gonzalez is the winner of Texas’ 34th Congressional District race, defeating Republican Rep. Mayra Flores.

The win is critical for Democrats who faced tougher-than-expected competition from Republicans in the traditionally Democratic and heavily Latino South Texas region.

With 85% of the votes in, Gonzalez had 52.7% and Flores had 44.2%, according to the NBC News Decision Desk.

Retirement and redistricting meant the race pitted the two sitting members of Congress against each other.

Read the full story here.

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar wins Texas’ 28th District, defeating Cassy Garcia

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar is the winner in Texas’ 28th Congressional District, NBC News projects, returning to Congress for a 10th term.

With 77% of the vote reporting, Cuellar had 56.9% and Republican Cassy Garcia had 43.1%, according to the NBC News Decision Desk.

Garcia was one of three Republican Latinas running in South Texas congressional races hoping to cut into the region’s Latino support for Democrats.

Cuellar, a centrist Democrat, has long been further to the right of his party, but he has said he reflects his district, which is heavily Hispanic but more conservative on issues of abortion, the border and guns.

Read the full story here.

Republican who defeated Liz Cheney in primary wins her seat

Republican Harriet Hageman won her election to represent Wyoming’s sole congressional district, NBC News projects.

Hageman will succeed Rep. Liz Cheney, who lost the GOP primary in August. The district is solidly Republican, and Hageman was backed by former President Donald Trump.

Cheney, a staunch critic, has made it clear that she will work to ensure the former president does not win the White House again.

NBC News Exit Poll: Abortion is most important issue for 55% of young female voters

While most midterm voters cited inflation as their top issue, the story was very different for young voters — particularly young women, the NBC News Exit Poll found. Fifty-five percent of female voters under age 30 cited abortion as their top issue. Abortion was also the top issue for men under 30, although to a lesser degree.

Asked specifically about the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, two-thirds of young female voters said they were angry about it, compared to 43% of young male voters.

The issue is translating into strong Democratic support for House candidates among young adults, although there is a notable gender gap. Female voters under age 30 are breaking for Democratic House candidates by over 40 percentage points, the exit poll found. Men in the age group are breaking for Democratic House candidates by just about 11 points.

The share of midterms voters who were under age 30 (12%) appears to be similar to the shares in 2014 and 2018 (13% both years).

Oz expresses confidence he will win Pennsylvania Senate race

NEWTOWN, Pa. — Trailing Democratic Senate nominee John Fetterman in the crucial Pennsylvania race, Republican Mehmet Oz said Tuesday night that he still thinks he will emerge victorious.

“When all the ballots are counted, we believe we will win this race,” Oz told supporters at his election night party. “We have been closing the gap all night, and we have a lot more ballots to go.”

Oz trailed Fetterman by 1.1 percentage points at midnight ET with about 84% of expected votes in. The race is too early to call, according to NBC News.

Becca Balint is Vermont’s first woman and LGBTQ person elected to Congress

Democrat Becca Balint is the winner of Vermont’s at-large Congressional District race, NBC News projected. She is the first woman and the first LGBTQ person elected to Congress from the state.

With 72% of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Balint had 61.5%, while her Republican opponent, Liam Madden, had 28.8%.

Balint’s win against Madden, an Iraq War veteran, was widely expected. Vermont has not sent a Republican to Congress since it re-elected former Sen. Jim Jeffords in 2000.

Read the full story here.

Sen. Warnock tells supporters: ‘Hang in there. I’m feeling good’

ATLANTA — As returns show a close race for the Senate in Georgia, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock spoke to his crowd of supporters here late Tuesday and voiced cautious optimism.

“We always knew that the race would be close. And so that’s where we are. So y’all just hang in there. I’m feeling good,” he said.

NBC News rates the race between Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker as “too close to call.”

“I’m comin’ back tonight,” Warnock said. “We got more to say.

“I’m gonna try to defy Baptist preacher gravity and not talk too much.”

Election denier loses secretary of state race in New Mexico

Maggie Toulouse Oliver, the Democratic secretary of state in New Mexico, has defeated Republican challenger Audrey Trujillo, an outspoken election denier, NBC News projects.

Trujillo had called Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election a “coup” and has compared the U.S. system of voting to those in “any other communist country like Venezuela or any of these other states where our elections are being manipulated,” according to The New York Times.

Trujillo is a member of the pro-Trump America First Secretary of State Coalition, a group (led by Republican Nevada secretary of state nominee Jim Marchant) of candidates for secretary of state and other offices that wield power over elections who have all falsely claimed that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.

Michigan enshrines abortion rights in state constitution

Michigan voters approved a ballot measure to establish a state constitutional right to reproductive freedom, NBC News projects, making the state the first to render an abortion ban permanently unenforceable since the fall of Roe v. Wade.

The passage of Proposal 3 invalidates a 1931 state law that bans abortion without exception for rape or incest. 

While a judge temporarily blocked enforcement of the law in August and a state court declared it unconstitutional a month later, abortion advocates worried the decision could be appealed. 

Codifying abortion rights in the state constitution prevents the decision from being overturned, said Nicole Wells Stallworth, the executive director of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan. It would also stop future administrations from being able to implement harsh restrictions, she added.

Voters in California and Vermont have also approved referendums to codify abortion rights in their state constitutions.

Nevada results to be delayed by Clark County ballot processing

LAS VEGAS — Clark County elections officials don’t expect to process two significant tranches of ballots Tuesday night, increasing the likelihood that the outcome of one of the most closely watched Senate races won’t be known before the sun rises Wednesday.

Ballots left in drop boxes on Election Day and those that arrived by mail Tuesday won’t be counted immediately, the secretary of state’s office said.

Because of the delay and because state law allows mailed ballots to arrive days later, Republican and Democratic party officials said they don’t expect to know who has won the Senate and governor’s races Tuesday night.

Read the full story here.

Lindsey Graham: This is ‘definitely not a Republican wave’

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Tuesday night that the election results are not showing a red wave but that he still believes the GOP could gain control of the Senate.

“Definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure,” Graham said Tuesday night on NBC News. “I think we’re going to be at 51, 52, when it’s all said and done, in the Senate.”

NBC News has not projected which party will control the House or the Senate.

Graham said that gaining control of both houses of Congress would be a very good night for the GOP but that “a wave would have been, like, New Hampshire and Colorado.”

NBC News Exit Poll: Economic anxiety helps buoy Budd to victory in N.C. Senate race

In North Carolina, broad economic pessimism and President Biden’s unpopularity helped buoy Republican Ted Budd to victory in the Senate race. Results from the NBC News Exit Poll show that most North Carolina voters rated national economic conditions as not good or poor. And a majority of voters said that, in the last year, inflation had caused their households at least moderate financial hardship.

Roughly one-third of North Carolina voters said inflation was the most important issue to their votes — and Budd was the clear favorite among those voters, 75% of whom voted for him, compared with 23% for Democrat Cheri Beasley.

There was also a sizable gender gap in vote preference in the Senate race, the exit poll found. While Beasley was the modest favorite among women, nearly 6 in 10 men cast their ballots for Budd. Budd also enjoyed continued support from Republicans’ reliable constituencies: white voters, voters over 65 and those without college degrees.

Ohio’s Marcy Kaptur hangs on for 21st term in the House

Democratic Rep. Marcy Kaptur has won a tough re-election battle in Ohio, NBC News projects, positioning her to become the longest-serving woman in congressional history when her new term begins.

Kaptur defeated Republican J.R. Majewski, a right-wing candidate whose prospects plummeted after The Associated Press reported that he had misrepresented his military service.

National Republicans had high hopes of picking up the Toledo-area seat after redistricting folded in territory more favorable to the GOP. They targeted Kaptur, first elected in 1982, as a career politician with few accomplishments and an unshakeable loyalty to President Joe Biden. 

Read the full story here.

House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy wins re-election

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has won re-election to the House, NBC News projects.

McCarthy, 57, is likely poised to become the speaker of the House if Republicans win the majority.

He remains the significant favorite to be speaker in a GOP-controlled Congress, having the loyalty of incumbents and battleground candidates. There is no guarantee, however, because the ultra-conservative wing of the party could demand concessions or a candidate of its own.

The House Republican Conference is likely to hold a closed-door vote this month, and a formal vote on the House floor for speaker will be held when the new Congress convenes in January.

Oregon governor’s race too close to call; Wyden wins Senate race

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden has won re-election against Republican businesswoman Jo Rae Perkins, NBC News projects, while the race for governor is too close to call.

Wyden, who was first elected to the Senate in 1996, is the chairman of the Finance Committee.

The too-close-to-call governor’s race includes Democrat Tina Kotek, Republican Christine Drazan and a third candidate, Betsy Johnson.

Republican Ken Paxton wins Texas AG race, defeating Democrat Rochelle Garza

Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton has won re-election in Texas, NBC News projects, defeating Democratic newcomer Rochelle Garza in a highly competitive race.

With 74% of the votes counted, Paxton had 54.4%, while Garza had 42.9%, according to the NBC News Decision Desk.

Paxton has been attorney general since 2015.

The race was among the tightest in the state, with Garza within 2 to 7 percentage points of Paxton weeks before Election Day, polls showed.

Read the full story here.

California shuts down sports betting measures

California voters have rejected two proposals to legalize sports betting, NBC News projects.

One measure would have allowed in-person sports betting at casinos and horse racing tracks, while the other would have allowed online and mobile sports wagering outside tribal lands.

Both measures failed widely. 

Democrat Robert Garcia wins race for California’s 42nd Congressional District

Democrat Robert Garcia is the winner in California’s 42nd Congressional District, beating Republican John Briscoe, NBC News projected. 

With 22% of precincts reporting Tuesday night, Garcia had 71%, while Briscoe had 29%.

After his victory Tuesday night, Garcia tweeted a photograph of him and his mother, writing “Mom, we did it!”

Garcia, who is gay and immigrated to the U.S. from Peru at age 5, is the first LGBTQ immigrant elected to Congress. 

Garcia, 44, is the mayor of Long Beach. Elected in 2014 at 36, he became the city’s youngest mayor, as well as the first LGBTQ and first Latino person to hold the office. 

He was the president of the Long Beach Young Republicans club at California State University, Long Beach. In a 2017 interview, he said his past affiliation with the GOP was a result of his family’s affection for Ronald Reagan: Members of Garcia’s family were among the millions of immigrants who applied for citizenship after Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986.

“My worldview and politics haven’t changed much. But with immigrants rights and the war, and me being gay, we all realized that we were more progressive,” Garcia said at the time, adding that many of his family members had also switched parties over the years.

NBC News Exit Poll: Texas Gov. Abbott wins with support from white men, conservatives

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott fended off a challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke with a strong showing from several core Republican groups, the NBC News Exit Poll found.

Abbott strived to paint his opponent’s views as too extreme. Results from the exit poll show that many voters agreed, with 52% saying O’Rourke’s views were too extreme.

Fifty-five percent of Texas voters said they approve of the job Abbott is doing as governor, while 45% disapprove, the poll found. And more voters say they trust Abbott over O’Rourke to handle gun policy and border security.

Many of the groups that boosted Abbott to victory in 2018 also supported him by strong margins in Tuesday’s election — white men, voters without college degrees and conservative voters.

All six members of the ‘squad’ win re-election

All six members of the so-called squad have won re-election to their House seats, NBC News projects.

The four original members of the group — Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan — were later joined by Reps. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., and Cori Bush, D-Mo.

The group has pushed progressive policies, most of which are in line with those promoted by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., like the Green New Deal.

Reps Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., speaks as, Ilhan Abdullahi Omar D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib D-Mich., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N.Y., hold a press conference at the Capitol in 2019.
Reps Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., speaks as, Ilhan Abdullahi Omar D-Minn., Rashida Tlaib D-Mich., and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez D-N.Y., hold a press conference at the Capitol in 2019.Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images file

California enshrines abortion rights in state constitution

California voters passed a ballot initiative to enshrine the right to reproductive freedom in their state constitution — including the right to have an abortion and use contraceptives, NBC News projects.  

The approval of Proposition 1 was expected in the heavily Democratic state, which strengthened abortion protections hours after the fall of Roe v. Wade. 

Already under California law, abortion is legal before viability, usually defined as around 24 weeks of pregnancy or when a doctor determines that a fetus could live outside the uterus without extreme medical measures.

The state passed additional legislation after the Supreme Court decision to protect residents from civil liability for providing, aiding or receiving abortion care.

Vermont voters passed a similar referendum.

Nebraska changes voting requirement and raises minimum wage

In two separate ballot measures, Nebraska voters approved increasing the minimum wage and requiring valid photo identification to cast a ballot in any election, NBC News projects.

The state minimum wage will rise from $9 per hour to $10.50 per hour on Jan. 1. It will continue to increase each year until it hits $15 per hour in 2026.

Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids wins re-election in Kansas

Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids has won re-election in Kansas’ 3rd Congressional District, NBC News projects.

Davids defeated Amanda Adkins, a Republican, in a rematch after Davids won the seat in 2020.

NBC News Exit Poll: Democrats maintain strong support among LGBTQ voters

LGBTQ voters are once again solidly in the Democratic column in this year’s midterm elections, the NBC News Exit Poll found. Democrats won the support of 84% of self-identified LGBTQ voters, compared to just 15% who supported Republicans.

The Democratic advantage is similar to that in other recent midterm elections.

LGBTQ voters are maintaining their traditionally strong support for Democrats as liberals and conservatives wage battles nationwide over shifting social values on gender identity and sexuality. The NBC News Exit Poll found LGBTQ voters strongly support the changes in society’s values on gender and sexual orientation: 63% said these changes are for the better; just 18% said things are changing for the worse. 

That is at odds with the opinions of voters who did not identify as LGBTQ, 53% of whom said values on sexuality and gender are changing for the worse.

Iowa adds right to keep and bear arms to state constitution

Iowa has voted overwhelmingly to add the right to own and bear firearms to the state constitution, NBC News projects.

The ballot measure affirms it is a fundamental individual right and requires strict scrutiny for any alleged violations brought before a court.

It is the only ballot referendum nationwide that supports gun rights.

Meanwhile, Oregon voters will determine whether to pass restrictions on gun controls that would require permits to acquire firearms and ban high-capacity magazines.

Washington Democratic Sen. Patty Murray wins sixth term

Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a member of Senate Democratic leadership, has won a sixth term, NBC News projects.

Murray had 57.5% of the vote just before 11:30 p.m. ET, with 53% of the vote tabulated.

She defeated Republican Tiffany Smiley.

Pennsylvania Senate race too early to call; John Fetterman is leading

The Senate race in Pennsylvania is too early to call, but Democrat John Fetterman is leading, NBC News says.

Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, ran against Republican Mehmet Oz in one of the most competitive races of the 2022 cycle.

Herschel Walker strikes confident tone as Georgia Senate race is too close to call

Herschel Walker, the scandal-plagued Republican nominee for the Senate in Georgia, told supporters Tuesday that he continues to believe he will win his race, comparing himself to Will Ferrell’s character in the NASCAR comedy “Talladega Nights.”

“I’m telling you right now. I’m like Ricky Bobby. I don’t come to lose,” Walker said, referring to the cocky race car driver portrayed by Ferrell.

Walker is locked in a tight battle with Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock, who took office last year. The race is too close to call, according to NBC News projections.

Walker implored his supporters to “hang in there a little bit longer” as the results are being tabulated.

“You can wake up tomorrow morning and see that the new senator for the great state of Georgia is Herschel Walker,” he said.

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