Country waits for House results

Two days after the national election, the country is still waiting on election results for the House of Representatives. A party must hold 218 seats to secure the majority.

Currently, Republicans hold a narrow majority in the chamber. There are currently 220 Republicans, 212 Democrats and three vacancies. Twenty eight seats have yet to be called.

The volume of races and the number of competitive seats are causing the delay. Dozens are in competitive districts, and some races are too close to call as elections officials count absentee and provisional ballots. One House campaign in Iowa came down to just a six-vote difference.

Currently, there are too-close-to-call races in more than a dozen states from Alaska to Maine. California is famous for taking days, if not more than a week, to count all ballots. It allows mail ballots to be counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and received up to seven days after that. The state sends mail ballots to all registered, active voters so its volume of mail ballots is higher than other states.

A pair of closely-watched House races in Virginia have been decided, but with neither party gaining ground in a still tight race for House control.

Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans won reelection in the military-heavy southeast part of Virginia, while Democrat Eugene Vindman won a seat previously held by his party in the North.

Vindman is filling the seat after Rep. Abigail Spanberger left Congress to run for governor.
Democrat Eugene Vindman won election to a U.S. House seat representing Virginia on Wednesday, defeating Republican Derrick Anderson in the state’s most competitive district and holding the seat for Democrats.

Vindman was a career Army officer who, along with his brother, blew the whistle during Donald Trump’s first impeachment. A political newcomer, Vindman vied for the open congressional seat after Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger filed to run for Virginia governor. Vindman defeated Anderson in the battleground district, which runs from the outer-ring D.C. suburbs to the rural foothills of central Virginia. 

Republican Rep. Jen Kiggans won reelection to a U.S. House seat representing Virginia on Wednesday, defeating Democratic challenger Missy Cotter Smasal. Both women had served in the U.S. Navy: Kiggans is a former Navy helicopter pilot, and Cotter Smasal was a surface warfare officer.

Virginia’s 2nd District is home to Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach and is adjacent to the country’s largest naval base in Norfolk. Kiggans defeated Democratic Rep. Elaine Luria in 2022 after redistricting made the seat slightly more favorable to the GOP. 

Audrey Carpenter is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief for All Virginia News. She can be contacted at: audreycarpenter@allvirginia.news