Who will win control of the House? The outstanding races to watch

The party that will control the US House of Representatives for the next two years is still in the balance.

Republicans were seven seats short of the 218 seats needed to take control on Thursday morning. Democrats need 15 more.

The Senate, or upper chamber, and the White House have already flipped to Republicans so President-elect Donald Trump could have total control when he is sworn in on 20 January 2025.

Control of the House, the lower chamber, gives a party the power to initiate spending legislation and launch impeachment proceedings against officials.

Under Trump, a unified Republican Party could more easily push through tax cuts and introduce border control measures.

But Democrats hope the last votes trickling in from a handful of tight races will be enough to give them a majority in the House.

Here are some of the races that have yet to be called.

Democrats are closely monitoring five seats in California as crucial to winning back the House.

Challengers are hoping to defeat the incumbent Republicans and flip the seats blue, but initial polling shows incumbents holding onto their seats by narrow margins.

The key races to watch are:

• California’s 45th: Republican Congresswoman Michelle Steel, the incumbent, is currently leading against Democrat Derek Tran with 70% of votes reported. She has a lead of 4 points.
• California’s 27th: Democrat George Whitesides is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman Mike Garcia. With 69% of votes counted, Garcia leads by a narrow margin 2 points.
• California’s 41st: Incumbent Republican Congressman Ken Calvert is running against Democrat Will Rollins. Calvert is winning by a narrow margin of 2% with 76% of votes counted.
• California’s 22nd: Democrat Rudy Salas is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman David Valadao, who currently leads with a margin of 10 points. A little over 56% of votes have been counted.
• California’s 13th: Incumbent Republican Congressman John Duarte is running against Democrat Adam Gray. With 52% of votes counted, Duarte is leading by 2 points.

The two closely watched races in the state currently have margins of less than 2%.

Republican Juan Ciscomani currently leads his Democratic challenger, Kirsten Engel, by 0.5 points in Arizona’s 6th district located in the southeast corner of the state. About 67% of votes have been counted.

In Arizona’s 1st district, David Schweikert has a lead of 1% over Democratic challenger Amish Shah, with 69% of votes counted.

Schweikert’s district covers north-eastern Maricopa County, outside of Phoenix.

In Maine, incumbent Democratic Congressman Jared Golden is fighting to keep his seat – one of two congressional districts in the state.

Maine’s 2nd Congressional district encompasses the majority of the state north of Augusta and Portland.

Golden is currently leading in the race against his Republican challenger, Austin Theriault, by less than a point. Around 93% of votes have been counted.

Democrats are looking to hold onto one seat in Ohio’s 9th congressional district, which encompasses Toledo in northern Ohio.

Incumbent Democratic Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur, who has served in Congress since 1983, leads in the race against her Republican challenger, Derek Merrin.

Kaptur has a narrow 0.3 point lead. Around 95% of votes have been counted.

North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher makes sense of the race for the White House in his twice-weekly US Election Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.