7 House races still too close to call
There are seven House races that are still too close to call. Republicans and Democrats each lead in 3 races, with one race between two Republicans. Two Louisiana House races will be decided in a recall election December 6.
Here are the seven other races still in doubt:
1. Arizona's 2nd District: Rep. Ron Barber (D) v. Republican Martha McSally. Barber is currently trailing McSally by just 363 votes. The incumbent Democrat narrowly beat McSally in 2012 after 11 days of vote-counting, and this year's race could take a similarly long time to decide.
2. California's 7th District: Rep. Ami Bera (D) v. former Rep. Doug Ose (R). As of Friday afternoon, Ose was leading Bera by 2,183 votes. The Ose campaign said in a statement Thursday night that the Sacramento County Registrar still had more than 70,000 countywide ballots to be counted, some of which would be part of the district's total. A final result could come as soon as Saturday. Bera wasn't declared the winner in 2012 until after more than a week of tallying votes.
3. California's 26th District: Rep. Julia Brownley (D) v. Republican Jeff Gorell. Brownley, a freshman, currently leads by 530 votes. Another update is expected from Ventura County later on Friday.
4. California's 9th District: Rep. Jerry McNerney (D) v. Republican Tony Amador. McNerney currently leads by 2,360 votes over his GOP challenger, a former police officer and U.S. marshal. But both parties had expected McNerney to win reelection easily, and certainly not be held to such a close margin.
5. California's 16th District: Rep. Jim Costa (D) v. Republican Johnny Tacherra. Costa, one of the few remaining centrist Blue Dogs in Congress, is behind Tacherra, a dairy farmer, by fewer than 800 votes. Like McNerney, Costa wasn't considered a particularly vulnerable Democrat heading into the elections.
6. New York's 25th District: Rep. Louise Slaughter (D) v. Republican Mark Assini. Slaughter, a senior Democrat who holds the top slot for her party on the powerful House Rules Committee, is barely holding on to her seat. Her lead on Friday was fewer than 600 votes. Her Rochester-area district was never considered to be competitive this cycle.
7. Washington's 4th District: Republicans Dan Newhouse v. Clint Didier. Republicans will keep this seat in their column regardless of whether Newhouse or Didier wins. Newhouse is currently in the lead by more than 3,000 votes.
Six of those seven races feature Democratic incumbents, so it is likely that Republicans will add a few more seats to their majority before all is said and done.