Votes for the midterm elections will be cast Tuesday, but the day's top story — which party will control the Senate after Nov. 4 — may not be decided for a while.
With several Senate races too close to call and others looking to be headed for runoff elections, there could be a delay of up to a few months before one party is given the keys to the Senate chamber,
reports Politico.
The Senate race in Louisiana, for example, will go to a Dec. 6 runoff if neither candidate earns 50 percent of the vote.
Recent polls show incumbent Democrat Mary Landrieu leads her Republican challenger Bill Cassidy with around 40 percent support.
The same rules apply in Georgia, and polls have shown the race could also be headed for a Jan. 6 runoff. Republican David Purdue
has a slight lead over Democrat Michelle Nunn, according to the
Real Clear Politics average of polls for the contest, but his support from voters is hovering right around the 50 percent mark.
Further, if all the votes have been counted in any given Senate race and the margin is slim enough, there could be at least one recount.
The New York Times reported that the Republican Senatorial Committee will have a jet ready to fly lawyers and staffers to any election that could be eligible for a recount.
Republicans need to pick up six seats in order to seize control of the Senate.
The Washington Post is predicting Republicans will pick up seats in six races: Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, South Dakota, and West Virginia.
The Post analysis says Democrats will maintain seats in North Carolina and New Hampshire, while the hotly contested Kentucky race between Republican incumbent Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader, and Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes will most likely go to McConnell.
That leaves four races too close to call: in Alaska, Georgia, Iowa, and Kansas.
The GOP hopes Tuesday's elections will end with the party as the clear leader of the Senate, and despite
several predictions that say Republicans will do just that, it may take a while for everything to be sorted out.