US election results live: Midterm red wave falters as Democrats hold key seats while AOC and DeSantis win big

LIVE – Updated at 04:22 Polls have closed across the US and counting is well underway on Election Day in the 2022 midterms. The first results saw success for Trump-endorsed candidates who scored early wins, but Democrats performed stronger than expected, retaining a number of Senate and House seats thought in danger. In the home stretch of the campaign, polls show that the contest to control the US Senate is down to the wire, while Republicans are placed to retake the House of Representatives.Two of the most important Senate races remain essentially deadlocked, with Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock effectively tied with Herschel Walker in Georgia and his would-be counterpart John Fetterman struggling to hold off Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.Early vote numbers, meanwhile, have surged past the total reached in the 2018 midterm cycle – particularly in Georgia, where Democrats hope the more than 2 million votes already cast will favour them.In the last few days, Joe Biden has campaigned in Albuquerque, San Diego, and Joliet, Illinois, before joining former President Barack Obama in Philadelphia. Former president Donald Trump held a rally for JD Vance in Ohio last night, where he teased a presidential campaign announcement on 15 November. Fetterman supporters undeterred by stroke as Obama does last-minute campaignWill Trump’s scandal-plagued Senate endorsements come back to bite the GOP?Midterm spending hits new highTrump ‘to announce presidential bid’ in a week’s time 04:22 , Oliver O’Connell The Associated Press has made the following calls:Governor racesDemocrat Gavin Newsom wins reelection for governor in California.Republican Brad Little wins reelection for governor in Idaho.Democrat Tim Walz wins reelection for governor in Minnesota.Senate racesDemocrat Alex Padilla wins reelection to US Senate from California.Republican Mike Crapo wins reelection to US Senate from Idaho.Republican Chuck Grassley wins reelection to US Senate from Iowa.Republican JD Vance wins election to U.S. Senate from Ohio. 04:20 , Oliver O’Connell An interesting story is developing in Pennsylvania’s senate race. John Fetterman, who campaigned on a slogan of ‘every county, every vote,’ and made a point of searching for votes in ‘ruby red’ parts of the state, appears to be outperforming Joe Biden’s 2020 margins in Republican areas.Fetterman is now outperforming Biden’s numbers in 17 of the 18 Pennsylvania counties are reporting >95% of their vote.The only county where Oz is outperforming Trump is Pike County, a county along the New Jersey border, where he’s outperforming Trump by 0.9 points.#PASEN pic.twitter.com/XZzQ1t4UZe- Ryan Matsumoto (@ryanmatsumoto1) November 9, 2022Dr Oz, meanwhile, is underperforming Trump in every county reporting more than 95 per cent of their vote apart from one – Pike County – which happens to be on the New Jersey on border.Anyone who has followed this campaign will know that one of the main lines of attack against Dr Oz was that he is a carpet bagger, not from Pennsylvania, and actually lives in New Jersey. 04:15 , Oliver O’Connell Ahmed Baba writes: As ballot-counting delays were announced in Arizona, Trump and his acolytes began repeating the same old lies from 2020. But the truth is that they knew all along about the early-night ‘red mirage’ that tricks Republicans into thinking they’re doing better than they are – because they created it. © Provided by The Independent Republicans are already spreading lies about the midterm election results 04:06 , Alex Woodward Vermont is the first state in the US to enshrine the right to abortion in its constitution, after voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure that protects residents’ right to make their own reproductive health decisions, including abortion care and birth control.Vermont is among five states with abortion-related measures on the ballot during midterm elections this year in the wake of the US Supreme Court’s decision to revoke the constitutional right to abortion by overturning precedent in Roe v Wade.The Vermont for Reproductive Liberty Ballot Committee, which campaigned for the amendment, said ‘Vermont voters made history tonight.”Vermonters support reproductive freedom in all four corners of the state,’ the committee said in a message to voters. ‘They believe that our reproductive decisions are ours to make without interference from politicians.’Center for Reproductive Rights president Nancy Northup said in a statement that Vermont has ‘set an example of what is possible for other states.’ 03:53 , Oliver O’Connell The Associated Press has made the following calls:Governor racesRepublican Phil Scott wins reelection for governor in Vermont.Democrat Jared Polis wins reelection for governor in Colorado.Republican Kevin Stitt wins reelection for governor in Oklahoma.Republican Kristi Noem wins reelection for governor in South Dakota.Republican Greg Abbott wins reelection for governor in Texas.Senate racesDemocrat Michael Bennet wins reelection to US Senate from Colorado.Republican Eric Schmitt wins election to US Senate from Missouri.Republican John Kennedy wins reelection to US Senate from Louisiana. 03:44 , Oliver O’Connell President Joe Biden has called Senator Chris Van Hollen, Senator Michael Bennet, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, and Representative Jennifer Wexton to offer his congratulations on their wins in the midterm elections. 03:25 , Oliver O’Connell The Texas Supreme Court has ruled that voters in Harris County – which includes Houston and its suburbs and is the third largest county in the country – will not be able to cast a provisional ballot if they got into line after 7pm.Provisional ballots cast after 7pm will be separated and not counted.#BREAKING: #HarrisCounty voters who got in line after 7 p.m. will no longer be able to cast a provisional ballot. Those provisional votes that were cast after 7 p.m. will be separated from the Election Day votes and will not count. READ MORE: https://t.co/7JRzhU6viE pic.twitter.com/KkK3IPtjye- KHOU 11 News Houston (@KHOU) November 9, 2022 03:10 , Oliver O’Connell Senator Marco Rubio of Florida easily won reelection in Florida despite being drastically outspent by Democrats in a sign that the Sunshine State is becoming solidly Republican.Democratic Representative Val Demings, who has served in the House of Representatives since 2016, significantly outraised Mr Rubio in the race. Ms Demings’ October quarterly filing showed that she raised $17m in net contributions in the final quarter of the election.By comparison, Mr Rubio, who was running for a third term for Senate, raised $7.4m in the most recent quarter.Eric Garcia reports. © Provided by The Independent Marco Rubio wins despite being outspent as Florida slips away as swing state 03:06 , Oliver O’Connell President Joe Biden has made congratulatory calls to Massachusetts Governor-elect Maura Healey, Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee, Vermont Senator-elect Peter Welch, Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester of Delaware, Colorado Governor Jared Polis, Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York. 02:47 , Oliver O’Connell Right-wing Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has won a second term representing Georgia’s 14th district in the House of Representatives, defeating Democratic challenger Marcus Flowers, according to the Associated Press.Ms Greene, a staunch supporter of former president Donald Trump and promoter of anti-semitic conspiracy theories such as QAnon, was widely expected to carry the heavily-Republican district, which has been represented by a Republican since former Democratic Representative Nathan Deal switched parties in 1995.Graeme Massie and Andrew Feinberg report. © Provided by The Independent Marjorie Taylor Greene re-elected in Georgia as she vows to impeach Biden 02:16 , Oliver O’Connell Supporters of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis chanted ‘two more years’ at his election night celebration as encouragement for him to run for President in 2024. His term as governor would be four years.chants of “two more years!” during Ron DeSantis’s victory speech pic.twitter.com/8Jb6PGPUqn- Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 9, 2022 02:05 , Oliver O’Connell A judge has denied Republican efforts to extend voting hours in Maricopa counting, saying there is no evidence any voters were denied the ability to vote due to tabulator issues in some counties.Judge rejects Republican request to extend voting in Arizona’s Maricopa County after vote-counting machines issue https://t.co/928wEAWtjW #Election2022 pic.twitter.com/TbRG6khWrn- Reuters U.S. News (@ReutersUS) November 9, 2022 02:03 , Oliver O’Connell The Associated Press has made the following calls:Governor racesRepublican Henry McMaster wins reelection for governor in South Carolina.Democrat Daniel McKee wins reelection for governor in Rhode Island.Republican Kim Reynolds wins reelection for governor in Iowa.Republican Mark Gordon wins reelection for governor in Wyoming.Republican Mike DeWine wins reelection for governor in Ohio.Senate racesRepublican Jerry Moran wins reelection to U.S. Senate from Kansas.Republican John Hoeven wins reelection to U.S. Senate from North Dakota.Republican John Thune wins reelection to U.S. Senate from South Dakota.Democrat Charles Schumer wins reelection to U.S. Senate from New York. 01:55 , Alex Woodward Massachusetts voters have elected Maura Healey to the governor’s office, making history as the first openly gay woman elected as governor in US history.Healey is among two openly lesbian candidates running for governor’s seats in 2022. Oregon’s Democratic candidate for governor, Tina Kotek, also was the first openly gay person to serve as a speaker of a state house.’Massachusetts embraced a platform of equality and inclusion by electing a pro-equality champion,’ according to a statement from Human Rights Campaign Interim President Joni Madison. ‘With her in the statehouse, LGBTQ+ youth across Massachusetts and the United States will get to see that they are represented at the highest levels of government, and that they can achieve anything they set their minds on.’ 01:50 , Oliver O’Connell Democrat Maxwell Frost has won the race for the House seat in Florida’s 10th District.He will be the first Gen Zers to serve in Congress.Democrat Maxwell Frost has won the election for the U.S. House in Florida’s 10th Congressional District. Meet the 25-year-old who will officially become the first Gen Z member of Congress. pic.twitter.com/SnIAgs1xx5- NowThis (@nowthisnews) November 9, 2022 01:40 , Oliver O’Connell Republican John Boozman wins reelection to US Senate from Arkansas.Republican Chris Sununu wins reelection for governor in New Hampshire.Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders wins election for governor in Arkansas.Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been elected Arkansas governor, becoming the state’s first female governor. The former Trump White House press secretary defeated Democrat Chris Jones. https://t.co/A2W9uDMHqn pic.twitter.com/AKjdDIvir0- The Associated Press (@AP) November 9, 2022 01:27 , Oliver O’Connell Florida voters have re-elected Republican Ron DeSantis to the governor’s office, a role that has become a lightning rod for national right-wing politics and fuelled his presumptive bid for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination.Alex Woodward has the latest. © Provided by The Independent Florida Governor Ron DeSantis wins re-election 01:25 , Oliver O’Connell Republican Senator Marco Rubio has been reelected in Florida defeating Democrat challenger Val Demings in the key battleground state, according to the Associated Press.,BREAKING: Republican Sen. Marco Rubio won reelection in Florida, according to an AP race call, beating his Democratic opponent Rep. Val Demings in a key battleground state. #Election2022 https://t.co/pmoGWEKpdb pic.twitter.com/p5Y9qs4F45- NPR (@NPR) November 9, 2022 01:08 , Oliver O’Connell The Associated Press has called the following races for Governor: Republican Ron DeSantis wins reelection for governor in Florida.Republican Bill Lee wins reelection for governor in Tennessee.Republican Kay Ivey wins reelection for governor in Alabama.Democrat JB Pritzker wins reelection for governor in Illinois.Democrat Maura Healey wins election for governor in Massachusetts.Democrat Wes Moore wins election for governor in Maryland.And the following races for the Senate: Democrat Tammy Duckworth wins reelection to US Senate from Illinois.Democrat Chris Van Hollen wins reelection to US Senate from Maryland.Republican Katie Britt wins election to US Senate from Alabama.Democrat Richard Blumenthal wins reelection to US Senate from Connecticut.Republican James Lankford wins reelection to US Senate from Oklahoma.Republican Markwayne Mullin wins election to US Senate in Oklahoma. 01:04 , Oliver O’Connell Early voting data from Ohio and Georgia show a divergence between voter share by party in the Senate and gubernatorial races.In Ohio, Mike Dewine’s share of the votes for governor is running ahead of JD Vance’s share for the open Senate seat.We are also seeing a lot of ticket splitting in Ohio in the early returns, which is boosting Rep. Tim Ryan D-OH) in his bid for Senate. Gov. Mike DeWine (R) is running about 11 points better than GOP Senate candidate JD Vance.- Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) November 9, 2022In Georgia, Raphael Warnock appears to be running ahead of Stacey Abrams in his Senate race versus her gubernatorial race.Warnock continues to outperform Abrams by about 3 points. Kemp is outperforming Walker by 4. #gapol #gasen pic.twitter.com/Gb0Zq9tdpa- Greg Bluestein (@bluestein) November 9, 2022 00:59 , Oliver O’Connell NBC News reports that a district court judge in Harris County, Texas – which includes Houston and surrounding suburbs – has ordered election officials to keep voting locations open for an extra hour in response to a lawsuit a progressive voting rights group filed. NBC News: A district court judge in Harris County, Texas – which includes Houston and surrounding su