The electoral authorities ask for patience as the count progresses to define the Congress after the US elections.

() — Electoral officials are asking for patience and trying to quell conspiracy theories about why the vote count in western states has yet to be done, as control of the House and Senate remains up for grabs after the midterm elections. Tuesday in the United States.

About 540,000 votes in Arizona and 95,000 in Nevada remained to be counted as of Thursday night, estimates. The count in California, where there are more than a dozen key House races, could go on for weeks. But the fact that these uncalled races are affecting control of Congress underscores how far Republicans have fallen from their goal of building a red wave.

The GOP had hoped to benefit from President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings, the tough economic climate and the fact that the president’s party typically faces heavy losses in the first half of a new administration’s term. But with the nation still on edge over the final outcome three days after Election Day, the Republican blame game was in full swing Thursday.

Retired Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey, a Republican who will be succeeded by Democrat John Fetterman, bluntly pointed to the role former President Donald Trump played in the midterm elections. His endorsement of weak, election-denying candidates who prioritized loyalty to him over the electorate at large created a drag on other Republican candidates, Toomey said.

“At the top of the ticket in the gubernatorial race, we had an ultra-MAGA candidate who never seemed to even try to expand beyond a stalwart base that was very, very committed to him,” Toomey told ‘s Erin Burnett, alluding to Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who lost by double digits.

Toomey argued that the GOP had lost three House seats in the commonwealth that he believed they should have had a good chance of regaining, due to “a real issue at the top of the ticket” in Mastriano, but “also President Trump inserting himself into the race” by coming to Pennsylvania in the final days of the election.

“We were at a time when it is good for Republicans that the race is about President Biden, who is unpopular and whose policies have failed,” the outgoing senator said, “and instead President Trump had to insert himself and that changed. the nature of the race and that created too many obstacles. … It’s not just Pennsylvania. Across the country, there is a very high correlation between MAGA candidates and high losses, or at least dramatically underperformance.”

After Democrats won the Pennsylvania Senate seat, Republicans need to win two seats held by Democrats to achieve a majority. The balance of power has come down to races in three states: Arizona and Nevada, where Democrats are defending seats in races in which it is too early to declare a winner, and Georgia, where Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker they are headed for a runoff on December 6, according to projections.

In Nevada, Republican Adam Laxalt, a former state attorney general, narrowly edged Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto on Thursday night. In Arizona, Democratic Senator Mark Kelly had a slightly larger lead over Republican Blake Masters.

The highest-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, did not wait for the majority to be announced to launch his campaign for Speaker of the House. But the smaller-than-expected size of the likely Republican majority is already adding to the pressure the California Republican faces from pro-Trump conservative factions in his conference. Those members now likely have more clout than they might have with a larger Republican majority.

The right-wing House Freedom Caucus has yet to commit to supporting McCarthy and on Thursday laid out demands that include rule changes designed to lessen the House speaker’s power over the Republican conference. Some members want more details about the leader’s plans to continue investigations into the Biden administration. Arizona Rep. Andy Biggs, for example, is upset that McCarthy appeared to back down on the question of whether to impeach President Joe Biden, ‘s Melanie Zanona reported.

McCarthy has been calling members in recent days and enjoys substantial goodwill among many of them for his prodigious campaigning and fundraising.

One of the incoming members who benefited from McCarthy’s midterm campaign boost is Rep.-elect Michael Lawler, who defeated the head of the House Democrats’ campaign branch. In addition to winning another GOP seat, his victory over Democratic Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is also a symbolic victory for Republicans seeking to send a message about his strength, especially in a blue state.

Lawler told Burnett on Thursday that he would endorse McCarthy for Speaker of the House.

While Biden is still expected to face a series of House investigations targeting his policies, his administration and his son Hunter’s business dealings, he has reacted optimistically to avoid the midterm attacks experienced by his more recent predecessors.

Biden left for a trip to Egypt and Asia on Thursday night prepared to tell allied world leaders worried about the prospects of a return of Trump-style disruption that American democracy had passed its first test since the Capitol insurrection. of the USA in 2021.

‘We can be patient’

As some conservatives made unsubstantiated suggestions, election officials in Nevada and Arizona tried Thursday to dispel misinformation about how long it took their respective counties to count.

During an appearance on right-wing activist Charlie Kirk’s talk show, Arizona GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake said she felt “100% sure we’re going to win this,” but accused election officials of “being slow, dragging your feet and delaying the inevitable.”

Lake, who has repeatedly embraced Trump’s 2020 election falsehoods, is running against Democrat Katie Hobbs, the Arizona secretary of state who rejected efforts by the GOP to overturn Biden’s victory in the state.

Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Bill Gates, a Republican, called Lake’s comments “offensive.”

“Frankly, it’s offensive for Kari Lake to say that these people behind me are slow when they work 14-18 hours,” Gates said, gesturing to poll workers tabulating ballots. “So I really hope this is the end of that now. We can be patient and respect the results when they come out.”

Maricopa County, the state’s most populous, plans to cast about 62,000 ballots each night, including over the weekend, Gates said.

Nevada’s system was taken advantage of by Trump, who claimed without evidence on his social media platform Thursday that Clark County “has a corrupt voting system.” He told Laxalt to “be careful,” feeding misinformation about the county as he did in his presidential race two years ago.

Clark County Registrar of Voters Joe Gloria responded by telling reporters that the former president is “misinformed, two years later, about the law and our election processes that ensure the integrity of elections in Clark County and the condition”.

Under Nevada law, counties can receive mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day through Saturday. Voters also have until Monday to fix any issues with their ballot signatures.

“We are working as hard as we can to get the ballots counted,” Gloria said. “But like it or not, there is no way we can move any faster than we are currently moving.”