2022 midterm election results

A judge in Maricopa County, Arizona, denied a bid by Republicans to extend polling by three hours, saying there was no evidence that any voters were precluded from exercising their right to vote.

In a hearing that concluded two minutes before polls closed, the judge said while some voters may have been confused or faced difficulties, he didn't see any evidence of voters who wanted to vote but were unable to do so.

Republicans had asked the judge to issue a temporary restraining order to keep polling centers in Maricopa County open until 10 p.m. local time for provisional ballots to be cast by voters who ran into issues with tabulation machines.

Democratic Jennifer Wexton will win her reelection bid in Virginia’s 10th Congressional District race, CNN projects.

Republican Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar will win in Florida’s 27th District, CNN projects.  

Georgia’s acting Deputy Secretary of State Gabriel Sterling says that they have not seen any “real issues” on election night reporting data being submitted to their office yet.   

“It’s been smooth, we haven’t had election night reporting issues at this point,” Sterling said at a news conference Tuesday evening.    

All of Georgia’s major metropolitan counties have uploaded some votes, according to Sterling, with the exception of DeKalb County, which includes parts of Atlanta and the surrounding areas.   

“The biggest bucket of votes we think that are still out there right now from a single county are the early votes from DeKalb. They are still working to get the upload completed. They internally have done it is my understanding, but they haven’t published it to us yet,” Sterling told the media.  

Sterling said the majority of results already posted to the Georgia Secretary of State website at this point are mainly early in-person votes. He plans to update the media again tonight when he has additional information. 

Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wins reelection in New York’s 14th Congressional District, CNN projects.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy has been watching returns at the National Republican Congressional Committee headquarters in Washington, DC, and has stopped by the main offices of his super PAC, the Congressional Leadership Fund, according to aides.

He has been receiving reports from the ground, speaking to candidates who have won and his advisers say the early reports point to a Republican takeover of the House.

Democratic Rep. Cori Bush wins reelection bid in Missouri's 1st Congressional District race, CNN projects. 

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the one-time press secretary and communications director for former President Donald Trump, will win Arkansas’ gubernatorial race, CNN projects. 

She will be the first woman elected governor of Arkansas.  

Huckabee Sanders defeated Democrat Chris Jones, who is a minister and former non-profit leader who got a degree in nuclear engineering from MIT. 

Arkansas last elected a Democratic governor in 2010 and it’s now a solidly red state. 

Sanders, while a first-time candidate, is no stranger to politics. Her father, Republican Mike Huckabee, was governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. And by defeating Democrat Chris Jones, Sanders will also become the first daughter in US history to serve as governor of the same state her father once led.  

Sanders previously worked for two years in the George W. Bush administration and later ran her father’s 2008 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and then was campaign manager for his 2016 bid.  

She gained national prominence in her role as former President Donald Trump’s White House press secretary, serving as a staunch defender of the then-President and his policies for more than two years. On many occasions, she clashed with national reporters and eventually scaled back televised briefings. She defended the move, saying that journalists could hear from Trump directly.   

Sanders earned an early endorsement from Trump after joining the race for Arkansas governor, and prominent rivals later dropped out of the race, clearing her path to the GOP nomination.   

Sanders’ path to victory in the race to succeed term-limited GOP Gov. Asa Hutchison was relatively smooth – unsurprising in a state that has taken a sharp turn to the right in recent years. But the campaign was not without personal challenges. In September, Sanders announced she was diagnosed with thyroid cancer and “underwent a successful surgery to remove my thyroid and surrounding lymph nodes.”   

In her race for governor, Sanders defended her decision to grant only a handful of interviews with local media, saying she’s been speaking to voters directly.  

“Freedom of the press is incredibly important, but with freedom of the press also comes a great deal of responsibility, and when they don’t live up to their end of the bargain, it forces some of us to go outside of the box, which I have done every single day for the last two years,” Sanders said at an October 21 debate hosted by the Arkansas PBS station.  

In the debate, Sanders highlighted key issues of her campaign, including her education plan,  Arkansas LEARNS, to increase literacy rates, and her support for phasing out the state income tax, though she has not explicitly stated a timeline for doing so.

CNN's Andrew Menezes contributed reporting to this post.

Democratic Gov. Dan McKee will win in Rhode Island, CNN projects.