Florida elections still too close to call as Senate race goes to hand recount – as it happened

• There will be a manual recount in Florida’s United States Senate race after a machine recount gave Republican Rick Scott a narrow lead over Democratic Bill Nelson. However, with Scott leading by over 12,000 votes, it will likely take the discovery of a machine failure for Nelson to win
• Democrat Jared Golden was declared the winner in Maine’s Second Congressional District. His win means that there will be no Republicans from New England in the House of Representatives next year
• President Donald Trump will visit California on Saturday to see the recovery efforts from Camp Fire.

Mike Espy, the Democratic candidate in the United States Senate runoff in Mississippi, has a campaign ad out where he strikes moderate tones on infrastructure and bipartisanship.

The runoff there for the two years remaining on the term vacated by the resignation of longtime incumbent Thad Cochran will be on November 27. Espy faces appointed incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith.

There might be a female Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee next year.

Marsha Blackburn, the newly elected senator from Tennessee, has been tipped to join the committee what she’s sworn in in January.

During the Kavanaugh hearings, the fact that all the Republican members were white men drew negative comment from some quarters.

Acting attorney general Matt Whitaker reportedly told Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina that he will let the Mueller investigation proceed today.

The conversation happened when the two met today on Capitol Hill.

Things in Florida seem be a bit chaotic as election officials wait to take next steps.

Looks like the Senate race in Florida is going into a second overtime

The New York Times has a handy guide to all the races from the midterms have still yet to be called.

This includes seven House races, two Senate races and two gubernatorial races. One of the Senate races though requires an asterisk. It is the runoff in the Mississippi special election for the United States Senate. It’s not a regularly scheduled midterm election. The others are.

A pro-Trump political non-profit received $22 million from anonymous donors last year.

America First Policies raised $26 million in total in 2017, most of which went to a political nonprofit which did not have to disclose its donors. Just under half of the money it raised came from two individual anonymous donors.

Even after a machine recount, there is still a major undervote between the governor’s race and Senate race in Broward County. The question is whether it is a machine issue or if people simply missed the Senate race because of faulty ballot design.

It appears a second county in Florida will not meet the machine recount deadline besides Palm Beach.

This is a handy summary of the state of play right now in Florida for the three statewide races that underwent a machine recount

The vote tallies are moving the wrong way for Bill Nelson. Rick Scott’s campaign estimates that it has increased its lead by 865 votes to over 13,000.

Democrats are preparing a number of rules changes for when they take control of the House in January. These include slowing the legislative process to allow for more time to be considered and making easier for bills with majority support but opposed by party leadership to receive a vote.

Even though Palm Beach County didn’t meet the deadline for the machine recount, preparations are already underway for the manual recount.

In House leadership news, two freshman Democrats from California representing previously Republican held districts have backed Nancy Pelosi for Speaker.

In a letter to colleagues, Mike Levin and Katie Hill formally endorsed Pelosi.

With the conclusion of the machine recount, Rick Scott’s campaign has issued a statement where he calls himself “Senator-elect.”

Today, Senator-elect Rick Scott released the below statement following the 3:00pm conclusion of the machine recount. After the recount, Senator-elect Scott’s lead grew by 865 votes, with a total margin of 13,427.

Senator-elect Rick Scott said “Last week, Florida voters elected me as their next U.S. Senator and now the ballots have been counted twice. I am incredibly proud and humbled by the opportunity to serve Florida in Washington. Our state needs to move forward. We need to put this election behind us, and it is time for Bill Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes – which will yield the same result, and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served.”