Midterm election results updates: Dems keep control of Senate with Nevada win
Catherine Cortez Masto’s victory in Nevada clinched the chamber for Democrats.
The 2022 midterm elections shaped up to be some of the most consequential in the nation's recent history, with control of Congress at stake.
All 435 seats in the House and 35 of 100 seats in the Senate were on the ballot, as well as several influential gubernatorial elections in battleground states like Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Democrats were defending their narrow majorities in both chambers and retained control of the Senate, though control of the House isn't yet clear. But a Republican flip of the lower chamber would be enough to curtail most of President Joe Biden's legislative agenda and would likely result in investigations against his administration and even his family.
Key updates:
Drazan concedes as Kotek projected to win Oregon governor race
Republican Oregon gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan officially conceded the race to Democrat Tina Kotek on Friday.
"It was a hard-fought battle, and this is not the outcome that we hoped for. But I am grateful to have been a part of this process," Drazan said in a video message.
The concession comes as ABC News projected that Kotek will win the close race.
Kotek already declared victory on Thursday, after The Oregonian projected she will win the race.
"It's time to start work. There’s an urgency from voters and we are moving forward," she said at a press conference.
Kotek will become one of the first openly gay governors in U.S. history, alongside Massachusetts governor-elect Maura Healey.
Nevada's Clark County still has 50,030 ballots to count
There are about 50,030 mail ballots that still need to be counted in Nevada's most-populous and most Democratic-leaning county, Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria told reporters Friday.
Nearly 16,000 ballots will be sent to tabulation today, Gloria said.
“We're getting to the tail end of what we need to do,” he said. “The tabulation team stays pretty consistent because that's the fastest of all the groups. They can read, if they have to, about 1,000 ballots an hour.”
Saturday is the last day for mail ballots to be received and elections officials will be doing two trips to make sure none are left behind. The deadline to finish counting mail-in ballots is Tuesday, Nov. 15.
Democratic incumbent Catherine Cortez Masto and her Republican challenger, Adam Laxalt, are locked in a tight race for the U.S. Senate. As of Friday afternoon, Laxalt had a lead of roughly 9,000 votes.
-ABC News' Abby Cruz
Where vote count stands in Arizona
There are a little more than 500,000 votes left to be counted in Arizona, according to the secretary of state's office.
Officials in Maricopa County -- the state's largest -- expect to "probably" be done with their count on Monday.
Two closely watched races have yet to be decided: the Senate contest between Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly and Republican challenger Blake Masters, as well as the gubernatorial race between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake.
Some Republicans are angry that results still aren't in, but officials stressed that this is how the process set by the legislature works and that accuracy is more important than speed.
Races that fall within one-half of a percentage point or less will trigger an automatic recount.
-ABC News’ Libby Cathey
Mastriano allies criticize his failed campaign
In the hours since Republican Doug Mastriano flamed out of Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race, losing to Josh Shapiro by double digits in a race that was somehow more lopsided than polls suggested it would be, some of the state senator’s own allies have publicly criticized the campaign.
The autopsies depict a candidate who was untrustworthy of experienced aides, blinded by his support among rural Pennsylvanians, and crippled by a refusal to engage with mainstream press. Mastriano has yet to concede to Shapiro, but he also hasn't indicated he plans to challenge the election results.
“He was nowhere in media. His campaign could not be gotten ahold of. They refused to respond to any opposition media. I think that was a huge mistake,” Jenna Ellis, a senior legal adviser to the campaign, said Thursday on Newsmax radio.
Meanwhile, Mastriano’s hardline stance on abortion was a losing strategy, said Dom Giordano, a Philadelphia-based conservative radio host who interviewed Mastriano several times throughout the fall.
“I don’t believe you can run statewide and ban all abortions, meaning even in the case of the mother’s health, rape and incest. If you say no to those things, meaning no abortions even in those cases, as Doug did, you are not going to win statewide. It is a loser,” Giordano said on his program Wednesday morning.
-ABC News' Will McDuffie
Where the outstanding House races stand
As of early Friday morning, Republicans have won 211 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives while Democrats have won 204.
So far, Republicans have flipped a total of 16 House seats while Democrats have flipped five.
Twenty House races remain outstanding and Republicans only need to win seven of them to gain control of Congress' lower chamber.
Both parties are currently leading in 10 of the outstanding House races.
-ABC News' Hannah Demissie