With over 134 million votes counted by Wednesday morning, some notable Congressional seats have flip-flopped and a clear winner in the Presidential race hinges on the outcome of a handful of battleground states.
The White House
In the big enchilada when it comes to Election 2020, the race between incumbent Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate, former Vice President Joe Biden, is still in play. As of Wednesday morning, Biden has a narrow 227-213 lead when it comes to likely electoral votes with 270 needed to clinch the election, according to results tracked by the New York Times.
The remaining 98 votes on the table are spread in eight states where current popular vote tallies lean towards Mr. Trump in five of those: Alaska (3 electoral votes), Georgia (16), North Carolina (15), Pennsylvania (20), and Michigan (16). Meanwhile, Biden is narrowly ahead in Arizona (11), Nevada (6), and Wisconsin (10).
However, it could be Thursday or later before the outcome of those remaining states is declared, as election officials in several are holding final results pending the tally of absentee and mail-in ballots until then. In Pennsylvania, officials said they will not be finished until Friday.
When it comes to the issue of gun politics, Biden has repeatedly pledged to lower the boom on the firearms industry and lawful gun owners through a mix of bans, new regulations, and restrictions and has been endorsed by a number of national anti-gun organizations including billionaire Michael Bloomberg's Everytown group, the latter of which has pledged $100 million to the 2020 election push.
The Senate
With 35 of 100 seats up for grabs in the U.S. Senate, Republicans-- who have to defend two-thirds of those-- can only afford to lose three or four seats and retain vital control of the chamber responsible for confirming Presidential cabinet and judicial appointments. Nonetheless, the body will likely stay red in 2021.
In the clearing smoke of Wednesday morning, Democrats counted only 47 seats-- with former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper defeating incumbent Republican Cory Gardner, and Giffords co-founder Mark Kelly defeating Republican U.S. Sen. Martha McSally in Arizona. However, the Dems also lost a seat, that held by U.S. Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama after the first-term Democrat was skunked by football coach Tommy Tuberville, a Republican.
Meanwhile, Republicans incumbents are leading in four of the six races that are still underway, with incumbent Senator Susan Collins holding on to a six-point lead in Maine, Thom Tillis maintaining a two-point lead in North Carolina, GOP stalwart David Purdue holding off his challenger in Georgia with a four-point gap, and Alaska's Dan Sullivan more than likely to keep his seat. Republicans are also in the hunt to flip another seat, with NRA F-rated Democrat U.S. Sen. Gary Peters trailing challenger John James in Michigan.
The sixth undecided Senate race, with Georgia's Kelly Loeffler facing off against F-rated Democrat Raphael Warnock, is headed to a January run-off election.
The House
The U.S. House of Representatives for the past two years has been under Democrat control, with the party currently holding down 232 of 435 seats and only 218 needed to have a majority. With that being said, the Dems early Wednesday could only confidently count 188 seats in which their candidate was the declared winner while Republicans held 181 after the GOP netted four flipped seats from Democrat incumbents.
Of the 66 remaining seats, 37 were tracking for Republicans early Wednesday morning including several held by vulnerable incumbent Dems in purple districts across Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and California. While a thorough long-shot, should the GOP grab all 37 that are still nominally in play, they could reach the magic 218 number in the House. Even if not, Dems will likely less control over the body for the upcoming 117th Congress.
Stay tuned to Guns.com as this story evolves.
