Arizona

An MSNBC forecast and a CNN projection say that Kari Lake has lost the bid to become the next governor of Arizona. Lake is one of the most high-profile Republican candidates to contest in the midterm elections and one of the election deniers to echo former President Donald Trump's views of an election fraud in 2020. Edison Research had not yet called the race.

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Lake's loss comes as another jolt for the Republicans who were hoping for a red wave which it was denied by the Democrats who managed to win some key races. 

She was up against Democrat Katie Hobbs in Arizona, a battleground state that is expected to play a pivotal role in the 2024 US presidential election. Lake has been a vocal critic of the state's mail-in voting, and had vowed to ban it. Conspiracy theorists have falsely claimed that the voting method used by hundreds of thousands of Americans is vulnerable to fraud. 

Also Read | Recent statements by Republicans hint they might deny midterm election results

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Democrats have retained control of the US Senate following wins in the swing states of Arizona and Nevada, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote. If Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock beats Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff on December 6, the party will win an outright majority.

Meanwhile, Republicans are moving towards controlling the House of Representatives. As of Monday, Republicans had won 212 seats and the Democrats 206, with 218 needed for a majority. 

The Democrats managed to bring in voters angry over the US Supreme Court decision to overturn the constitutional right to abortion.

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Lake's loss is the latest in a series of such results for Republican candidates who harped on election fraud. Voters in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin also rejected election deniers in races for governor and other statewide election posts.

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Biden narrowly beat Trump in Arizona in the 2020 election. Hobbs, Arizona's current secretary of state, rose to national prominence when she defended the state's election results against Trump's claims of voter fraud.

Arizona has been counting votes for almost a week since the state requires voters' signatures on early ballots to be verified before they are processed. Hundreds of thousands of early ballots were cast at drop boxes on Election Day, leading to a delay in counting, officials said.

(With inputs from agencies)