Abortion played key role in 2022 midterm elections; 2 races could determine Senate control

Washington — Abortion access proved to be a powerful force in the 2022 midterm elections, lifting Democrats in battleground states and helping to weaken the anticipated Republican wave into a ripple. In the five states where the issue was directly on the ballot, every contest leaned in favor of protecting abortion rights — even in heavily Republican states like Kentucky and Montana.

These outcomes help answer one of the central questions of the midterm campaign: whether fervor over the fall of Roe v. Wade in the summer could last through November. 

It’s now been three days since the elections, and number of races have not yet been called, as ballots continue to be counted. Senate control is a toss-up, and the House of Representatives is leaning Republican, according to CBS News estimates.

Senate contests in Georgia and Nevada are still undecided. Georgia’s Senate race between incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock and his GOP challenger, Herschel Walker, is going into a runoff on Dec. 6. 

Republicans need to pick up one of the two seats in Georgia and Nevada to win control of the Senate, according to CBS News projections. On Friday night, CBS News projected that Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat, has won reelection in Arizona.  

Alaska’s Senate race also remains a toss-up, but the top two candidates are both Republicans, meaning the outcome won’t impact the partisan makeup of the Senate. Since neither candidate received 50% of the vote, the race will go to its ranked-choice process, with results expected in two weeks.   

Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, who is currently trailing Democrat Katie Hobbs, accused state election officials of “slow-rolling” the vote count.  Bill Gates, the chairman of the board of supervisors in Maricopa County, the state’s largest, pushed back against that accusation on Thursday, saying that counting was always going to take “several days.” Gates added, “Quite frankly it is offensive for Kari Lake to say these people behind me are slow-rolling this when they are working 14 to 18 hours.”

Colorado Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert is in a toss-up race to hold onto her seat against Democratic challenger Adam Frisch in what had been considered a safe GOP seat, but her lead has been increasing. On Thursday morning, with 99% of the vote in, she was ahead by over 1,100 votes.

Full results and projections for every House, Senate and governor’s race can be found in the CBS News Election Center.