Control of the House of Representatives remained uncertain Wednesday morning despite pre-election predictions that Republicans easily would win a majority.
As of 9 a.m. ET, Newsmax projected the GOP with 200 seats — what would be a four-seat gain — and Democrats with 180.
Remaining races from Tuesday's midterms were too close to call, and days or weeks might be needed to determine the final tally.
A total of at least 218 seats is needed for a majority in the next Congress.
Republicans hoped to take control of the lower chamber to put a halt to a Democrat-controlled Congress passing President Joe Biden's progressive agenda, as has been the case the past two years.
A GOP-led House also likely would trigger investigations into actions by the Biden administration and the president's family.
The final Senate makeup also remained unknown, as several races — Georgia, Wisconsin, Nevada, and Arizona — remain uncalled. The chamber currently is 50-50, with Vice President Kamala Harris able to cast a tiebreaking vote.
One encouraging takeaway for the GOP is that the party appears to be making gains with younger voters. CNN, in a comparison of 2018 and 2022 exit-polling data, showed that Democrats suffered a 7-point support decrease among voters aged 18-29, and a 15-point decrease among those aged 30-44.
Republicans needed to flip five House seats and retain all of those already held to win the majority.
However, at least one high-profile lawmaker was trailing in her fight to return.
Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert trailed Democrat Adam Frisch 50.88% to 49.12% with 89% of the vote counted.
Boebert isn't the only GOP woman in a hotly contested uncalled race.
In New Mexico, Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell trailed Democrat Gabriel Vasquez 50.26% to 49.74% with 93% of the vote counted.
Democrats kept seats in districts from Virginia to Kansas to Rhode Island, while many districts in states such as New York and California had not been called.
"While many races remain too close to call, it is clear that House Democratic Members and candidates are strongly outperforming expectations across the country," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said.
Reuters early Wednesday morning reported that only 12 of the 53 most competitive races, based on an analysis of the leading nonpartisan forecasters, had been decided, raising the prospect that the final outcome may not be known for some time. Democrats were projected as the winners in 10 of those 12 contests.
Axios on Tuesday said a number of factors — including processing and counting ballots, and election rules in key swing states — could contribute to delays in knowing the outcomes of some races.
Candidates might cause delays by employing lawsuits that challenge the election process, and several people running had declined to say if they would accept the results of the election in their states, Axios reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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