Control of US House remains in limbo

Washington, Nov 14

Control of the US House of Representatives remains in limbo, days after the November 8 midterm elections, according to poll projections.

Twenty of the 435 House races have yet to be called, with Republicans already taking in 211 versus 204 for Democrats, Xinhua news agency reported citing the CNN projections issued on Sunday night.

Many undecided contests are in California, where the counting of mail-in ballots continues.

Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, and Oregon are among other states to have uncalled House races.

It takes at least 218 seats to claim control of the lower chamber, where Democrats have a slim majority this term.

In the Senate, 35 of its 100 seats were up for grabs this year.

Democrats have been projected to retain majority status with at least 50 seats despite Georgia's race headed to a runoff next month.

The upper chamber is currently divided 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast the tie-breaking vote in favour of Democrats.

The new Congress will convene for the first time on January 3, 2023.

In this year's midterm elections, 36 out of 50 states, as well as three US territories, elected governors.

Numerous other state and local elections were also contested.

The total cost of 2022 state and federal midterm elections is projected to exceed $16.7 billion, according to a new OpenSecrets analysis released earlier this month.

"No other midterm election has seen as much money at the state and federal levels as the 2022 elections," said Sheila Krumholz, OpenSecrets' executive director.

"We're seeing record-breaking totals spent on elections up and down the ballot."