DON’T PANIC OVER HOUSE RESULTS It took us a little more than a week last cycle to learn who controlled the House. And with both parties expecting a close election across dozens of battleground districts this year, get ready to wait on news about who holds the majority. Again. “As a candidate, you're sitting there in limbo,” said Rep. Ami Bera (D-Calif.), whose safely Democratic district still took a full week for The Associated Press to call last cycle. Rep. Salud Carbjal (D-Calif.), who was driving to campaign in California swing districts with Bera, said voters, staffers (and, let’s be honest, journalists) need to trust the process: “It's worth the wait to make sure that every vote gets counted and that we are hopefully more successful at the ballot. Yes, the wait can be a little bit anxiety-driving, but at the end of the day, the benefit is great.” Hill offices can still function normally while they wait to know who won, though candidates might have to delay their staffing and transition plans. Democrats are also particularly worried about what a protracted battle over House control could mean for the spread of election disinformation, like in 2020. And awkward situations could arise during the lame-duck period. Take the new member orientation, which is scheduled for the two weeks Congress is in session before Thanksgiving. Candidates on both sides of an uncalled race might both show up. A spokesperson for the House Administration Committee’s Republicans said, per their standard practice for previous Congresses, both candidates would be invited to attend New Member Orientation if their race is still uncalled by the start of the program. But, according to the spokesperson: “If the race is called during New Member Orientation, the prevailing candidate will continue programming through completion and the unsuccessful candidate will immediately return home.” A senior Democratic committee aide said they were prepping for “multiple scenarios as it relates to federal elections, voting rights, and House of Representatives operations and continue to be in constant communication with those institutional House partners” like the Architect of the Capitol and the Chief Administrative Officer. Another potential wrinkle: House leadership elections. House Republicans have scheduled their leadership contests for Nov. 13, when the House election results could possibly still be unclear. House Democrats are expected to hold their elections the week after, though they have not officially put them on the calendar. House Republicans are currently sticking to their plan to hold leadership elections the week after the election. But some Republicans are already privately questioning that timeline, since there will be races in key districts likely still pending at that point, and the battle for control of the majority is expected to go down to the last few calls. Leadership slots on both sides of the aisle also hinge on knowing who will actually control the House. On the Democratic side : Most of the current leadership structure is expected to move up a rung if they take the majority, though there’s already been some quiet maneuvering by Reps. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) and Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) for the vice chair position that could be vacated by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.). House Democratic leaders told lawmakers on a campaign call earlier this week that they should be prepared to sit tight and wait for the election to be decided. “They're just reminding everybody that it could take a few days to call it, and everybody needs to be vigilant and diligent in making sure that all the T's are crossed, all the dots are dotted, that we have monitors to make sure that there's no foul play by anyone, and that we continue to make sure there's fidelity in our elections,” Carbajal said. — Nicholas Wu, with an assist from Katherine Tully-McManus and Jordain Carney GOOD EVENING! Welcome to Inside Congress, the play-by-play guide to all things Capitol Hill, on this Friday, Nov. 1, where we’re looking at Election Day baking.
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