Well, this morning while we are still waiting to see
which party controls the House of Representatives, we are getting
a clearer picture of the final makeup of the Senate.
This is after NBC News projected that Democratic candidate Ruben
Gallego is the winner of Arizona's Senate race.
Gallego will be the border states first Latino senator of
NBC News.
Capitol Hill correspondent Ali Vitale joining us on this now.
Ali, good morning.
So another call here.
Arizona, though it's a mixed bag, right, when it comes
to politics and certainly for Democrats.
The state went for President-elect Trump, but then they take
this Senate seat.
Talk to us about this result and what Gallego is
expected to be able to accomplish for Arizona in the
Senate.
We're actually seeing this fascinating story start to emerge about
senators, including Democrats like Gallego, but also just just to
the West of him in Nevada, the fact that Jackie
Rosen is likely to be able to keep her seat.
All of these are kind of telltale signs, if you
will, that even though Trump had a wave in his
favor, there were voters who were willing to entertain the
idea of ticket splitting.
And so that's certainly what we saw in places like
Arizona.
If I still had that magic wall, magic big board
still behind me, I would be able to show you
the way in which he did it.
Because I imagine it went through places like Maricopa County
in the Phoenix area, where Gallego was able to run
up the score even as Trump managed to win there.
But that was really because Gallego tried to go in
a nonpartisan fashion and try to pick up not just
Democrats who want to hear his message as a Democrat,
but also Republicans who might be reluctant to vote for
Carrie Lake, in large part those McCain Republicans that still
exist in Arizona, Lake was struggling to pick those up.
Gallego was eager to do that, though.
And that's likely the story of how he was able
to win this seat and come to Washington.
Ali, you killed it with the board, by the way.
It was so fun to see you doing that.
Let's let's talk about another Senate race because we know
I must imagine it.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
Here's Marigoba.
We know the Republicans have won the Senate.
We've been talking about that a lot.
But there is still a race that NBC News hasn't
called.
It is an all important Pennsylvania.
We do have the Republican candidate, though, Dave McCormick declaring
victory.
What's going on here?
How close is this?
We are watching the Bob Casey campaign.
Casey, of course, the incumbent senator there say let's wait,
let's count all the votes.
Let's be patient.
Republicans though, including McCormick, are saying this thing is done
and they want McCormick to come to Washington.
That's not because they want him to start his term
early.
None of this really kicks into play until January, but
new member orientation starts this week.
McCormick, if he wins, would be one of those new
members and also Republicans tomorrow.
You touched on this with Dasha have their Republican leadership
elections.
That's going to be crucial.
It also could be tight.
McCormick would have a vote in that.
Now, all of this comes down to whether or not
the current Majority Leader, which is Democrat Chuck Schumer, allows
McCormick to come.
But Republican senators are also working their own way of
getting him there to Washington and into the Capitol.
Several of them say, hey, we're going to escort him
in.
He's going to be our guest and that's the way
that McCormick is going to be able to come to
Geo, to Republican freshman senator orientation without technically being the
senator from Pennsylvania because that race we have not called,
others have not called it though.
I will say when you look at where the vote
totals are still outstanding, there is a very narrow and
getting narrower path for the incumbent Democratic senator there.
Bob Casey.
Every time you say new member orientation or I hear
that, it's just I suddenly all the new members of
the Senate are like college kids wearing backpacks.
It's so funny.
Allie, before I let you go, we do have to
talk about where things stand in the battle over control
of the House, of the Is there a realistic path
here for Democrats to victory right now?
I like that you said college because I definitely think
about them as like elementary age, getting on the school
bus with their lunches.
But whatever we're going to get out of this fantasy
land that we're living in.
on the House side, there are actually some new members
who might not know if they're coming to Congress yet.
We knew that races in Alaska and California, we're going
to take a while to count.
That is certainly a reality that is still in play
and we're waiting to see what this majority actually shakes
out being.
For their part, Democrats that I speak to, although they
did see a potential path lose seats over the weekend
in places like Colorado and Arizona makes that path basically
non existent at this point.
Democrats know they are likely to be in the minority
here.
Republicans preparing as if they have the majority.
But this is where former president, this is where former
president now president-elect Trump might be making their lives a
little more difficult.
We talk about how close the margins are, that margins
still being counted in real time.
But the more members that he takes out out of
the House of Representatives, the harder it gets.
So far, we know that he's taken 2.
But in the instance of someone like Christy Noem, the
governor of South Dakota, going into the administration as well,
that means there's a vacant seat back in South Dakota.
Are there other members of the House that might want
to run for that who have higher ambitions while staying
close to home?
There are trigger effects and, and domino effects to all
of these decisions.
Even if he's not directly taking someone out of the
House, it could have an impact.
And the thing you got to remember here in the
House of Representatives is people can get sick.
Deaths can happen at random or spontaneously, and that can
change the balance of power.
One person being absent because they had outpatient surgery one
day could be a difference maker for key votes.
Things happen all the time, and that's the reality of
close margins in Congress.