Arizona, Nevada and Georgia: three states that will decide the Senate in midterms 2022

Control of the chamber currently 48-49 between Democrats and Republicans

What are the US midterm elections and why are they so important?

What are the US midterm elections and why are they so important?
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Follow the latest news on the US midterm elections 2022

Future control of the US Senate remained undecided on Wednesday, with two battleground states still tallying votes and a run-off election scheduled for Georgia.

Democrats have won 48 seats, with Independents on their side and with a seat in Pennsylvania flipped following the election of John Fetterman. Republicans now have 49 seats.

That leaves three Senate races still undecided.

Here is a look at the three states that will decide control of the Senate.

Arizona

The south-western state is still counting ballots in the race between Democrat Mark Kelly and Republican Blake Masters.

Mr Kelly, the state's incumbent, is leading in the count but a large number of ballots remain — with election officials hoping for a completed tally by the weekend.

State officials said hundreds of thousands of votes were dropped off in the days leading up to election day and on the day itself, making tallying a slow process.

Thousands of ballots unable to be read by machines are also being sent to central election centres for counting.

Arizona has been at the centre of a great deal of misinformation and distrust over election day issues seen at some polling sites.

Nevada

Republican Adam Laxalt and Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto are facing off in Nevada with no clear winner yet.

Mr Laxalt, the incumbent, is leading but tens of thousands of votes have yet to be counted and many outstanding ballots are believed to be Democrat-leaning.

The western state also has mail-in ballots postmarked on Tuesday, election day, that will still be counted as long as they arrive by November 12 — pushing a completed tally well into the weekend.

Georgia

The south-eastern state is heading to a run-off election between Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker on December 6.

Georgia law mandates a run-off election when no candidate reaches 50 per cent.

Mr Warnock, the state's incumbent, is no stranger to run-offs, since he won his seat in just such an election two years ago.

“We're going to a run-off, Georgia! Let's do this one more time!” he tweeted. Mr Walker has not yet publicly commented.

There are concerns of voter fatigue: the state shattered records in early voting and, repeating the process experienced in 2020, voters will have to take to the polls yet again in four weeks.

Updated: December 07, 2022, 5:10 AM