Democrats' House Count Tops 250 as North Carolina Flips Four GOP Seats and Two Races Head Toward Recounts

Since Democrats won the House on Tuesday, Nov. 3, and Hakeem Jeffries opened his speaker bid a day later, the vote count has kept moving one way. By Thursday, Nov. 5, the margin is bigger than it was when the majority was first called.

The Guardian's running tally put Democrats at 253 seats to Republicans' 155, with 27 races still uncalled. The CNBC Election Desk projected at least 250 Democratic seats and a minimum of 165 Republican seats. CBS News counted 42 districts that have shifted to Democrats and two that have shifted to Republicans. The counts differ because each desk calls races on its own schedule.

North Carolina's delegation flips

The sharpest swing came in North Carolina. The Associated Press has called five House races there for Democrats, all in districts drawn to favor Republicans. Four of them flipped from GOP control.

The state's delegation went into Tuesday with 10 Republicans and four Democrats. As of Thursday, the AP had called nine of the 14 seats for Democrats and none for Republicans.

The legislature redrew the map in 2023 to favor the GOP. The 14th District was the closest of the four flipped seats in 2024, when Rep. Moore won by about 16%. In the 6th, Rep. McDowell won by more than 38%.

In the 9th District, Democrat Richard Ojeda beat two-term Republican Richard Hudson, according to the Guardian's results. Hudson chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, and the seat had been Republican for 14 years.

In the 1st District, incumbent Democrat Don Davis was called the winner. Republican legislators had redrawn that seat last year to help the GOP. Davis led Republican Laurie Buckhout by more than 10,000 votes, a bigger margin than in 2024.

Two races are close enough for recounts. In the 3rd District, Republican Rep. Greg Murphy leads Democrat Raymond Smith by 233 votes. Democrats did not even field a candidate there in 2024. In the 5th, Democrat Chuck Hubbard leads 11-term Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx by 99 votes.

If the remaining results hold, North Carolina's delegation would be 10 Democrats and four Republicans.

Former Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, won the state's open Senate seat by nearly 20 points.

Republicans start assigning blame

Rep. Brian Jack, a Georgia Republican running to replace Hudson at the NRCC, wrote to House Republicans that their own side may have made the climate worse. "When Senate Republicans withdrew support from North Carolina weeks ago, they created a cascade that likely swept away many of our colleagues from that state," Jack wrote.

President Trump has pointed elsewhere. He said Democrats "did a good job" and that voters "didn't like the candidates," blaming GOP nominees for the losses. He had spent the final month of the campaign holding rallies and asking voters to pretend he was on the ballot.

In a brief call with CNBC's Eamon Javers, Trump said he can work with the incoming Democratic majorities on "many more things than people understand." He also told Fox News he would accept the results, after warning before the election that noncitizens would vote en masse and filing lawsuits in Alaska and California.

Democratic leaders see a different message. Jeffries said "the American people are crying out for transformational change." The AP's voter poll found most voters blame the administration for high costs and want Congress to check the president.

Aaron Dusso, an associate professor of political science at Indiana University–Indianapolis, told The Epoch Times the economy was the top factor in Democratic gains. "The war with Iran's effect on gas prices was easy for voters to see, and they assigned blame to the president and his party," he said.

More seats called

The latest calls hit incumbents in several parts of the country:

• New York's 17th: Democrat Cait Conley beat Republican Rep. Mike Lawler.
• New Jersey's 2nd: Democrat Zack Mullock, the Cape May mayor, beat four-term Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew.
• Arizona's 6th: Democrat JoAnna Mendoza, a Marine veteran, beat Republican Rep. Juan Ciscomani.
• Colorado's 5th: Democrat Jessica Killin, a former Army captain, beat first-term Republican Rep. Jeff Crank.
• Ohio's 10th: Democrat Kristina Knickerbocker beat Republican Rep. Mike Turner.
• California's 48th: the AP projects Democrat Marni von Wilpert will beat Republican Jim Desmond in an open seat made bluer by California's mid-decade redistricting.

In California's 11th, Scott Wiener won the seat Nancy Pelosi is leaving. He beat Connie Chan, whom Pelosi had endorsed. Pelosi congratulated him in a statement.

Redistricting did not go as Republicans planned in every state. CBS News reported that Texas Republicans redrew their map hoping to pick up as many as five Democratic seats. Only one flipped to the GOP, and Democrats captured two red districts. California Democrats picked up all five seats they targeted.

What remains open

CNBC's Election Desk had Democrats on track for at least 54 Senate seats, with Republicans likely to hold at least 42. The Epoch Times reported narrow Democratic leads in uncalled Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi. In Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom was essentially tied with GOP Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith with 95% of votes counted.

Texas Sen.-elect James Talarico, who beat Republican Ken Paxton despite $224 million in spending by Elon Musk on Paxton's behalf, is set to be sworn in Jan. 3.

Before then, North Carolina's 3rd and 5th Districts, decided by 233 and 99 votes, are likely headed to recounts that will settle whether the delegation ends up 10 to four or 9 to five.