The Ballotpedia Team has been working around the clock this week keeping election results as accurate and up to date as possible. We appreciate you following along with us over the weekend. Thank you for choosing Ballotpedia as your source for nonpartisan political information. 

​​​​​Now, let's dive into this week's federal political news. Click below to read the full version of The Federal Tap.

Read the full Tap online

       

Biden leads Trump 253 to 213 in electoral vote count, five battleground states remain uncalled

• With race calls in 44 states and Washington, D.C., former Vice President Joe Biden (D) has 253 electoral votes and President Donald Trump (R) has 213. Trump won four states Ballotpedia identified as battlegrounds: Florida, Iowa, Ohio, and Texas. Biden also won four: Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin.
   
• Elections are too close to call in five battleground states as of 6:00 a.m. EST on Nov. 7.: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
   
• Ballotpedia is tracking litigation filed by the Trump campaign related to the presidential election. Two cases in Georgia and Michigan were dismissed on Thursday. In Pennsylvania, a state appellate court ruled candidates’ representatives could observe all aspects of the counting process from within 6 feet of election workers.

Three U.S. Senate seats flip party control

• As of 6:00 a.m. ET on Nov. 7, 30 of 35 Senate elections have been called. Democrats have 48 seats (including among Democrats two independents who caucus with them) and Republicans have 47. 

• Three seats have changed party hands. 
  • Tommy Tuberville (R) defeated incumbent Sen. Doug Jones (D) in Alabama.
  • Mark Kelly (D) defeated incumbent Martha McSally (R) in Arizona's special election.
  • John Hickenlooper (D) defeated incumbent Sen. Cory Gardner (R) in Colorado.

• Elections remained uncalled in Alaska, Georgia, Maine, and North Carolina. Two Senate elections took place in Georgia: one regularly scheduled election and a special election. 
   
• A runoff will likely take place for Georgia's special Senate election. Four of the five national outlets Ballotpedia is using to call races have called incumbent Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) and Raphael Warnock (D) as proceeding to the runoff. Georgia's regular Senate election will advance to a runoff if neither candidate received a majority of the vote. 

• Republicans currently have a 53-47 majority in the chamber. Democrats need a net gain of four seats to win a majority in the chamber outright, or three seats plus the presidency for an effective majority as the vice president casts tie-breaking votes in the Senate.

Ten U.S. House seats flip party control

• As of 6:00 a.m. ET on Nov. 7, 393 of 435 House elections have been called. Democrats have won 201 seats in the chamber and Republicans have won 192. 

• Ten seats have changed party hands. Republicans won eight of them, and Democrats, two.
  • Florida's 26th: Republican Carlos Gimenez defeated incumbent Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D).
  • Florida's 27th: Republican Melissa Elvira Salazar defeated incumbent Donna Shalala (F). 
  • Iowa's 1st: Republican Ashley Hinson defeated incumbent Abby Finkenauer (D).
  • Michigan's 3rd: Republican Peter Meijer won the open seat left vacant by retiring incumbent Justin Amash. Amash was elected and re-elected to the district as a Republican. He changed his affiliation to independent in 2019 and to Libertarian in 2020.
  • Minnesota's 7th: Republican Michelle Fischbach defeated incumbent Collin Peterson (D).
  • New Mexico's 2nd: Republican Yvette Herrell defeated incumbent Xochitl Torres Small (D).
  • North Carolina's 2nd: Democrat Deborah Ross won the open seat left vacant by retiring incumbent Mark Walker (R).
  • North Carolina's 6th: Democrat Kathy Manning won the open seat left vacant by retiring incumbent George Holding (R).
  • Oklahoma's 5th: Republican Stephanie Bice defeated incumbent Kendra Horn (D).
  • South Carolina's 1st: Republican Nancy Mace defeated incumbent Joe Cunningham (D).
     
• On Nov. 7, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate (R) ordered a recount in Iowa's 2nd Congressional District election between Rita Hart (D) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R). The candidates were separated by about 200 votes as of writing.

• Democrats currently have a 232-197 majority in the chamber. Republicans need to gain a net of 21 seats to win a majority in the chamber.

U.S. Supreme Court to hear three hours of oral argument, consider ACA's individual mandate

• The Supreme Court will hear three hours of arguments this week via teleconference with live audio. The court made the decision to hold proceedings this way in accordance with public health guidance in response to COVID-19.
   
• November 9
  • Niz-Chavez v. Barr concerns (1) the government's ability to serve a notice to appear to a non-citizen and (2) the immigration stop-time rule, where a non-citizen's accrual of continuous residence ends when that person is served with a notice to appear.
  • Brownback v. King concerns the judgment bar of the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The FTCA judgment bar provision says: "The judgment in an action under section 1346(b) of this title shall constitute a complete bar to any action by the claimant, by reason of the same subject matter, against the employee of the government whose act or omission gave rise to the claim." 
     
• November 10
  • California v. Texas concerns the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare. In 2018, 20 states filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas challenging the individual mandate and claiming the ACA was unconstitutional. A district court judge ruled the law was invalid. On appeal, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled the individual mandate was unconstitutional and remanded the case. A group of states petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court for review, arguing (1) the respondents did not have the legal right to challenge the law and (2) the law was constitutional.

Ballotpedia tracking 11 lawsuits, two potential recounts directly associated with presidential election

• As of Nov. 6, we are tracking 11 lawsuits dealing directly with the presidential election. These are lawsuits in which at least one of the major presidential campaigns has signed on as a plaintiff. 
  • Lawsuits have been filed in four states: Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. 
  • More lawsuits have been filed in Pennsylvania (seven) than in the remaining three states combined. 
  • Eight of these lawsuits deal with counting procedure disputes (e.g., whether poll observers have been given proper access to the canvassing sites). Three involve challenges to small groups of ballots whose validity is in dispute (e.g., absentee/mail-in ballots arriving after the receipt deadline). 
  • Nine lawsuits have been filed in state courts. The remainder have been filed in the federal court system. 
  • For complete details on all of these lawsuits, click here. 
     
• We are also tracking two potential statewide recounts:
  • Georgia: On Nov. 6, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) said that a statewide recount was likely due to the narrow margin of votes separating President Donald Trump (R) from former Vice President Joe Biden (D). 
  • Wisconsin: On Nov. 4, the Trump campaign said that it planned to request a recount in Wisconsin.

Is Congress in session?

• The Senate is in session next week. Click here to see the full calendar for the second session of the 116th Congress.

Where was the president last week? 

• On Monday, Trump held Make America Great Again Victory rallies in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
• On Tuesday, Trump visited the Republican National Committee Annex in Arlington, Virginia.
• From Wednesday to Friday, Trump was in Washington, D.C., and had no public events scheduled.

What's the latest with the federal judiciary?

• 66 federal judicial vacancies
• 41 pending nominations
• 3 future federal judicial vacancies

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