By Adrienne Vogt, Aditi Sangal, Mike Hayes, Elise Hammond, Maureen Chowdhury, Tara Subramaniam, Melissa Macaya and Meg Wagner, CNN
From CNN's Dan Merica
Georgia’s senatorial race between Republican Herschel Walker and Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock will head to a runoff, CNN can project, sending the high-profile race to a Dec. 6 showdown after neither candidate was able to receive more than 50% of the vote.
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From CNN’s Christina Zdanowicz, Sara Sidner and Meridith Edwards
There are about 400,000 votes left to be counted in Arizona's Maricopa County, Board of Supervisors Chair Bill Gates said in a press conference Wednesday morning. This is up 100,000 votes from what Gates told CNN earlier this morning.
About 275,000 early ballots were dropped off on Election Day, Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer said. The election officials will need additional time to sort, count and verify the ballots. They are asking for patience as they work through the process and said they expect more than 95% of the votes will be counted by Friday.
“This number is immense,” Richer said, adding there were about 170,000 early ballots dropped off on Election Day in 2020.
They received 86,000 early ballots Friday and over the weekend, Richer said. Those ballots have already been processed and should be reported today, he said.
There are about 17,000 uncounted ballots that went into what they call “Box 3,” which means they were not run through the tabulator. These in-person ballots make up about 7% of in-person ballots, Gates said. There are always ballots that go into “Box 3,” Gates said, “but this is a higher percentage than normal.” Gates said those ballots are “secure” and will be tabulated in their central count facility.
Almost 1.2 million votes have already been reported, Gates said.
From CNN staff
Republican Eli Crane will win in Arizona’s 2nd District, CNN projects.
Democratic Rep. Susan Wild will hold on to her seat, CNN projects, defeating Republican Lisa Scheller, as she did in 2020, but this time in a redrawn district more favorable to Republicans.
From CNN's Oliver Darcy
Rupert Murdoch, the media mogul who controls some of the most powerful organs in conservative media, appeared to make clear Wednesday that he would prefer to cast aside former President Donald Trump in favor of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the leader of the Republican party.
The New York Post, a tabloid Murdoch controls, hailed DeSantis' election night victory on its front page Wednesday morning.
"DeFUTURE," the headline on the Post blared, alongside a photo of DeSantis and his family celebrating their major win in the Sunshine State.
On Fox News, the dominant television voice Murdoch controls, significant attention was given on Wednesday to DeSantis' victory.
"I think Gov. DeSantis is the single biggest winner of the night," former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on "Fox & Friends," adding that he will "almost certainly become the rallying point for everybody in the Republican Party who wants to move beyond President Trump."
The homepage of Fox News also prominently featured a column by conservative commentator Liz Peek that declared DeSantis "the new leader of the Republican Party." Fox News dubbed it "A NEW ERA."
And at The Wall Street Journal, the broadsheet owned by Murdoch, the newspaper's conservative editorial board published a piece proclaiming the "DeSantis Florida tsunami."
"There’s little doubt that his Florida success will grab the attention of voters outside the Sunshine State," the editorial board wrote. "You can bet Donald J. Trump was watching—unhappily."
Coverage from Murdoch's media outlets is notable, given that they have significant sway over the Republican Party base and its power brokers.
"It is not an accident," a person familiar with how Murdoch runs the companies told CNN Wednesday morning when asked about the fact that the billionaire's media outlets were focusing attention on DeSantis as the future of the Republican Party.
The coverage from Murdoch's media outlets does not mean that they will completely turn on Trump. Rather, it suggests that Murdoch might use his influence to tilt the scales and push Republicans toward DeSantis if the two squared off in a 2024 Republican primary.
A spokesperson for Murdoch did not immediately return a request for comment. But Murdoch has in the past made clear his frustrations with Trump.
Maggie Haberman, a reporter at The New York Times and CNN political analyst, reported recently in her bestselling book that after the 2020 election Murdoch remarked of Trump, "We should throw this guy over."
From CNN's Betsy Klein
President Biden is set to continue the tradition of holding a formal press conference the day after the midterm elections and will take questions from reporters at 4 p.m. ET in the State Dining Room, the White House announced.
“In the afternoon, the President will deliver remarks and take questions,” the White House said in an update to the President’s daily schedule Wednesday.
The event will be open to press.
CNN’s MJ Lee reported Biden is expected to take a victory lap and argue that his party was able to avoid a bloodbath because at the end of the day, candidates were running on his agenda that proved to be popular. Biden will also continue to stand by the decision – which the White House was widely criticized for in the final weeks – to spend time and energy discussing issues like abortion rights, protecting democracy and election integrity, in addition to the economy and inflation.
Biden advisers point to exit polls and ballot initiatives as clear proof that those other issues needed up being hugely motivating for voters.
Past presidents have traditionally held press conferences the day after midterm elections. They have produced noteworthy moments, like when then-President Barack Obama acknowledged a "shellacking" for Democrats in 2010.
Obama held press conferences following midterm elections in 2010 and 2014. Former President Donald Trump held a press conference after midterms in 2018. And former President George W. Bush held press conferences after the midterm elections in 2002 and 2006.
“You're going to hear from the President. He always enjoys taking your questions,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters earlier this week.
From CNN's Gregory Krieg
New York Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, the leader of the House Democratic campaign arm, publicly conceded his race to Republican Mike Lawler in a Wednesday morning press conference, saying Lawler “won fair and square” and pledging his support to man who will replace him in Congress.
CNN has not yet projected a winner in this race.
Maloney was in the awkward position of touting House Democrats’ exceeding of pre-election expectations while also trying to make sense of his own defeat, which was part of Republican near-sweep of the New York City suburbs.
“I don't like to lose. But my opponent won this race, and he won fair and square. And that means something,” Maloney said. “I'm not going to whine about it. I'm going to do this the right way and the right thing to do is to say the other guy won, to wish him well and to pledge my support,” he added.
Maloney said he spoke to President Biden earlier and “expressed our appreciation for his leadership on the issues that matter to the American people.”
In recounting his conversation with Biden, Maloney said the president was “interested in where we end up.” Republicans appear likely to win a House majority, but the margin remains very much in doubt.
“Last night should encourage him,” Maloney said of Biden. “Despite the opposition, despite the anger and the hatred and the lies that he has faced, the implacable obstruction that he has encountered, that he's making progress and that we're going to get through this together.”
Democratic Rep. Dan Kildee will win in Michigan’s 8th District, CNN projects.
From CNN staff
Democratic Rep. Frank Mrvan will win in Indiana’s 1st Congressional District, CNN projects, defeating Republican Jennifer-Ruth Green.