2022 midterm election results

A top Georgia election official said there are less than 10,000 votes left to be counted in that state, which means the tight Senate race will go to a December runoff. 

Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for Georgia's Secretary of State Office, told CNN’s Erin Burnett there are simply not enough votes left that could put Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock above the threshold needed to avoid a runoff.  

Sterling told CNN off-camera that of the approximately 10,000 remaining ballots, 5,139 are provisional ballots that need to verified by Monday. In addition, 2,163 are absentee ballots and 2,700 are early in person ballots from across the state.   

Sterling said the Georgia Secretary of State’s office is already preparing themselves for a December 6 runoff election. Ballots will be sent out to counties by Monday, Nov. 14 for their signoff, and the absentee ballot portal is open so voters can start requesting their absentee ballots, Sterling said. Early voting could start as early as Saturday, Nov. 26 if counties choose, he added.  

“It’s all about getting those parts lined up so we can get as many votes in – so the voters can make their voice heard,” Sterling said. 

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Election officials in Ann Arbor, Michigan, are pushing back on election fraud claims from Kristina Karamo, the Republican candidate who lost her bid for the Michigan secretary of state seat.

In early morning posts on Twitter and the right-wing social media platform Truth Social founded by former President Donald Trump, Karamo attacked the Ann Arbor city clerk, who oversees elections.   

Karamo claimed voters were able to cast ballots even if they arrived at the polls after 8 p.m. local time, when polls closed. She alleged that voters were still being registered at 10:30 p.m. 

She also said a voter with an address discrepancy was allowed to vote absentee, and someone who now lives in Michigan was able to vote Tuesday night in Ann Arbor after her absentee ballot did not arrive from Colorado.  

Ann Arbor City Clerk Jacqueline Beaudry dismissed Karamo’s claims, saying in an email to CNN that there are “strong protocols in place to protect the integrity of our elections.”

Beaudry said there were long lines at three polling locations on election night. Voters in line by 8 p.m. at all those locations were given a “ticket” that allowed them to vote. Staff were present to “monitor lines and further ensure no individuals joined the lines after 8 p.m.,” she said.

“Michigan residents are allowed to register and vote on Election Day,” Beaudry said, adding that voters who recently moved to the state have to show proof of a 30-day residency to register and vote. 

Refuting Karamo’s claim that the city didn’t publicly post absentee ballot totals by 9 p.m., Beaudry noted that information was made available at city hall on Election Day.

A spokesperson for the Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson called Karamo’s allegations “meritless.”

But Karamo claims she is only concerned that fraud is happening, saying, “We are not election deniers or threats to democracy.”

Benson on Tuesday night told reporters “there were no widespread or major disruptions” in Tuesday’s elections and that “any minor issues were addressed quickly and without stopping voters from casting their ballots.” 

In a private conference call with her caucus, Speaker Nancy Pelosi praised Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney for soaking up a lot of the GOP cash targeting his seat that she believes would have been spent elsewhere in other districts, according to a Democratic member on the call. 

But Pelosi did not speak about her future at all and whether she will again run for the top job in her caucus, the source said. Leadership elections for House Democrats are expected after Thanksgiving.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee executive director told the members that there is still a mathematical path to the majority but 'everything would have to go right,' the source said. 

Pelosi told her caucus on a call that Maloney "took an arrow for us ... a Pyrrhic victory," a source on the call tells CNN. 

On some vulnerable Democrats keeping their seats, she said, "our candidates were courageous… they had the stamina to get the job done."

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday, telling reporters, “I don’t know any more than you guys do.” 

Asked how he was feeling, he replied: “I don’t deal in feelings.” 

Georgia’s senatorial race between Republican Herschel Walker and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock will head to a runoff, CNN can project, sending the high-profile race to a Dec. 6 showdown after neither candidate was able to receive more than 50% of the vote. 

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There are about 400,000 votes left to be counted in Arizona's Maricopa County, Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Gates said in a press conference Wednesday morning. This is up 100,000 votes from what Gates told CNN earlier this morning.

About 275,000 early ballots were dropped off on Election Day, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said. The election officials will need additional time to sort, count and verify the ballots. They are asking for patience as they work through the process and said they expect more than 95% of the votes will be counted by Friday. 

“This number is immense,” Richer said, adding there were about 170,000 early ballots dropped off on Election Day in 2020. 

They received 86,000 early ballots Friday and over the weekend, Richer said. Those ballots have already been processed and should be reported today, he said.

There are about 17,000 uncounted ballots that went into what they call “Box 3,” which means they were not run through the tabulator. These in-person ballots make up about 7% of in-person ballots, Gates said. There are always ballots that go into “Box 3,” Gates said, “but this is a higher percentage than normal.” Gates said those ballots are “secure” and will be tabulated in their central count facility.

Almost 1.2 million votes have already been reported, Gates said.

Republican Eli Crane will win in Arizona’s 2nd District, CNN projects.  

Democratic Rep. Susan Wild will hold on to her seat, CNN projects, defeating Republican Lisa Scheller, as she did in 2020, but this time in a redrawn district more favorable to Republicans. 

Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who controls some of the most powerful organs in conservative media, appeared to make clear Wednesday that he would prefer to cast aside former President Donald Trump in favor of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the leader of the Republican party.​

The New York Post, a tabloid Murdoch controls, hailed DeSantis' election night victory on its front page Wednesday morning. 

"DeFUTURE," the headline on the Post blared, alongside a photo of DeSantis and his family celebrating their major win in the Sunshine State.

On Fox News, the dominant television voice Murdoch controls, significant attention was given on Wednesday to DeSantis' victory. 

"I think Gov. DeSantis is the single biggest winner of the night," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on "Fox & Friends," adding that he will "almost certainly become the rallying point for everybody in the Republican Party who wants to move beyond President Trump."

The homepage of Fox News also prominently featured a column by conservative commentator Liz Peek that declared DeSantis "the new leader of the Republican Party." Fox News dubbed it "A NEW ERA."

And at The Wall Street Journal, the broadsheet owned by Murdoch, the newspaper's conservative editorial board published a piece proclaiming the "DeSantis Florida tsunami."

Coverage from Murdoch's media outlets is notable, given that they have significant sway over the Republican Party base and its power brokers.

"It is not an accident," a person familiar with how Murdoch runs the companies told CNN Wednesday morning when asked about the fact that the billionaire's media outlets were focusing attention on DeSantis as the future of the Republican Party.

The coverage from Murdoch's media outlets does not mean that they will completely turn on Trump. Rather, it suggests that Murdoch might use his influence to tilt the scales and push Republicans toward DeSantis if the two squared off in a 2024 Republican primary.

A spokesperson for Murdoch did not immediately return a request for comment. But Murdoch has in the past made clear his frustrations with Trump. 

Maggie Haberman, a reporter at The New York Times and CNN political analyst, reported recently in her bestselling book that after the 2020 election Murdoch remarked of Trump, "We should throw this guy over."