Democrats pin Senate hopes on Nevada as count continues in key races

After the Democrat Mark Kelly was declared the winner of his Senate re-election race in Arizona, the outcome of a tight race in Nevada will determine whether Democrats can secure a majority in the upper congressional chamber without having to hold their breath until the December runoff in Georgia.

Laxalt tweeted on Saturday morning that that the race appeared to be inching away from his favor.

The bulk of the remaining ballots will come from Clark county, home to largely Democratic Las Vegas. Drop-off and mail-in ballots for the race so far have also favored Cortez Masto, upping the chances that she will keep her seat.

Many of the remaining ballots are expected to be counted and reported by Saturday, though the deadline for counting the remaining ballots is on Tuesday.

Even after the Nevada race is called, one race remains in Georgia, where the Democratic incumbent, Raphael Warnock, and his Republican challenger, the former football star Herschel Walker, will head into a runoff election on 6 December. Republicans have clinched 49 seats in the Senate so far.

House races still need to be called in eight states, including in Arizona, California and Washington, where votes for close races are still being counted. The political analyst Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report said in a tweet on Saturday that Democrats would need to win each of six toss-up races in order to get a majority.