Republicans Hold Four Close House Seats, California Rejects the Billionaire Tax – Two Senate Races Stay Uncalled
Republicans held four close House seats Monday as race calls trickled in nearly a week after Election Day, and California voters rejected a first-in-the-nation tax on billionaires. The two remaining Senate races are still uncalled.
Four House Seats Stay Republican
Rep. Eli Crane, R-Ariz., won a third term in Arizona’s 2nd District, beating former Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez in a rematch, the Associated Press called Monday. Crane had 49.7% to Nez’s 48.5%, with fewer than 4,000 votes separating them, AZFamily reported. Crane won the 2024 race by nine points.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., won a 13th term in Florida’s 26th District, the Associated Press called at 4:32 p.m. Monday. State results showed him with 114,578 votes, or 49.86%, to Democrat Nicole Locklin’s 112,874, or 49.12%, WLRN reported. Diaz-Balart won with nearly 71% in 2024.
Locklin had questioned about 3,000 votes that briefly appeared in her column on election night. The Associated Press said a data entry error caused the incorrect total and that it quickly fixed it, CBS News Miami reported.
Rep. Michael Baumgartner, R-Wash., won a second term in Washington’s 5th District with 51.7% of the vote, the Associated Press called. He led Democrat Carmela Conroy by more than 11,000 votes with about 90% of the vote counted, KREM reported.
In California’s 40th District, Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., defeated fellow Republican Rep. Young Kim, the Associated Press called late Monday. Mid-decade redistricting forced the two incumbents into the same seat, Bloomberg Government reported.
California Rejects the Billionaire Tax
Voters rejected Proposition 40, a one-time 5% tax on the assets of Californians worth more than $1 billion, the Associated Press called Monday. Roughly 53% voted no and 47% voted yes, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The secretary of state’s count Monday evening showed 5,909,899 no votes to 5,288,424 yes votes, according to state results, with ballots still being processed.
Opponents outspent supporters 250 to 1 on ads in late October, NBC News reported. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Gov.-elect Xavier Becerra opposed the tax, while Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., backed it.
“This is only round one,” Suzanne Jimenez of the Service Employees International Union, which sponsored the measure, said in a statement, NBC News reported. The union has vowed to try again in 2028, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Senate Races Still Open
In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom led Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith by 2,536 votes Monday evening with 97% of the vote counted, Yahoo News reported. The Associated Press has not called the race. Absentee ballots must arrive by Tuesday to be counted.
In Alaska, Democrat Mary Peltola led Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan by 2,517 first-choice votes after Monday’s update, with thousands of early, absentee and questioned ballots still uncounted, Alaska Public Media reported. If no one tops 50%, ranked-choice tabulation will begin Nov. 18.
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