Partisan control of the House remains unknown with 18 races uncalled

WASHINGTON — Races for more than a dozen House seats remained uncalled as of Monday afternoon, leaving political control of the chamber unknown nearly a week after voting in the 2022 midterms general election cycle concluded.

Most of the 18 House seats that NBC News has not called are in California. So far, Democrats have been elected to 205 seats and Republicans have won 212. A party needs to secure 218 to hold the majority in the House.

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In California, where ballots can be counted if they were postmarked by Election Day and arrived within seven days, 11 races do not yet have a winner. That includes the competitive race between GOP Rep. David Valadao and his Democratic challenger Rudy Salas to represent the state’s 22nd Congressional District. The contest between Democratic Rep. Mike Levin and his Republican opponent, Brian Baryott, in the 49th Congressional District had not been resolved, and Democratic Rep. Katie Porter is looking to fend off Republican Scott Baugh in the 47th Congressional District.

States that have one or two uncalled races are Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Maine, New York and Oregon.

Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, for example, is seeking to again defeat Republican Sarah Palin, the GOP’s 2012 vice presidential nominee, to represent the state’s single House seat. Peltola beat Palin in a special election at the end of August.

In Arizona, Republicans could flip the 6th Congressional District seat, which represents the area in the southeastern part of the state where Democrat Kirsten Engel ran against Republican Juan Ciscomani.

Far-right GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert could win re-election to Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District seat despite initially trailing Democrat Adam Frisch last week in what wound up being an unexpectedly close race in the rural, western portion of the state.

The latest figures suggest Republicans hold the advantage. NBC News estimates Republicans will hold 219 seats, while Democrats will control 216 seats, with a plus-or-minus 4-seat margin of error.

Over the weekend, Democrats clinched the majority in the Senate for the next Congress, with the re-election of Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada and Mark Kelly in Arizona. Georgia will hold a Dec. 6 runoff because neither Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, nor Republican Herschel Walker got a majority of the vote.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., has been preparing for a GOP takeover, announcing teams last week to oversee the transition. Members of the House Republican Conference are set to hold their closed-door election to pick their leaders for the new Congress on Tuesday. A formal and official vote for speaker takes place on the floor when the new Congress convenes.

More than 60 prominent conservatives, however, including former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and activist Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, are calling on House and Senate GOP leadership elections to be delayed until after Georgia’s Senate runoff.