Democrats were projected to win control of the House in the 2026 midterms, but the size of their majority — and the fate of some of Congress’s best-known members — remained unresolved a day after the election, with dozens of races still uncalled. Among the uncalled contests were races involving incumbents whose defeat would carry symbolic weight far beyond a single seat: Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado, a conservative firebrand backed by President Donald Trump, who was trailing her Democratic challenger; Representative David Valadao of California, a Republican in a district Democrats redrew to their advantage; and Representative Jeff Crank of Colorado, who was trailing a Democratic challenger in a district that had only ever elected Republicans. None of these races had been called when reporting was compiled on November 4, and all of them illustrate why the final House margin took days to settle.
The uncalled races are not a sign that something has gone wrong with counting. They are a normal consequence of close margins combined with state laws that allow mail ballots to arrive after Election Day and require signature checks before counting. California is the largest example: nearly every voter there receives a ballot by mail, ballots postmarked by Election Day count if they arrive within seven days, by November 10, and counties must report most results by November 16, with final certification by December 3. Eleven of the uncalled House seats were in California alone. Colorado, Washington and other Western states with heavy mail voting also take longer to finalise close races. A race is called only when analysts judge that the trailing candidate has no realistic path to overtake the leader — and in the closest contests, that judgment cannot be made until most ballots are counted.
Lauren Boebert Trailing and the Biggest House Upsets 2026
Boebert’s race, in Colorado’s Fourth District, drew national attention because of who she is: a prominent Trump ally, a frequent presence in national media, and a figure whose outspoken style has made her a target for Democrats and a hero to parts of the Republican base. Early returns showed her slightly behind her Democratic challenger, Eileen Laubacher, with about six percent of votes still uncounted early on Wednesday. That margin is small enough that late-counted ballots could move it in either direction, and commentators cautioned against declaring the race before more ballots were processed. If Boebert were to lose, it would be one of the night’s most prominent incumbent defeats — not because the seat itself would change the House majority, which Democrats had already secured, but because it would remove one of the most recognisable voices of the Trump-aligned right from Congress.
Valadao’s race, in California’s 22nd District in the San Joaquin Valley, tells a different story about redistricting. Valadao, a Republican, faced Randy Villegas, a progressive Democratic newcomer backed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Villegas was leading in early counts, and Democrats’ recent redistricting efforts in California were cited as a factor that could buoy their candidates in the Valley, which leans more conservative than the rest of the state. The district is therefore a test of whether redistricting, combined with a favourable national mood, can flip seats that geography alone would favour Republicans. As with Boebert’s race, the result remained projected rather than called, and the final margin will depend on mail ballots still arriving and being verified.
Crank’s race, in Colorado’s Fifth District, was perhaps the most surprising of the three. Democrat Jessica Killin led Crank by more than 13,000 votes, about 51 percent to 46 percent, in a district that had only ever elected Republicans, according to local reporting from El Paso County. That lead, if it holds through the final count, would be a genuine upset: not a close race in a competitive district, but a Democratic lead in a district drawn and historically held by Republicans. Local officials stressed that the count was unofficial and that counting continued, but the size of the reported lead made the race one of the night’s most watched contests in Colorado, alongside Boebert’s.
California Uncalled House Races and Why Counting Takes Days
Beyond the three headline races, California’s uncalled districts included contests where Democrats were guaranteed to hold the seat but the individual winner was undecided — for example, the race to succeed former Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the 11th District, and member-versus-member contests forced by midcycle redistricting, such as the 40th District, where one incumbent was guaranteed to lose. These races matter for the composition of the Democratic caucus and for committee assignments, even though they do not change party control. They also illustrate why “uncalled” does not mean “in doubt” in the partisan sense: in many California districts, the question is which Democrat wins, not whether a Democrat wins.
The slow count has political consequences beyond impatience. President Trump has long targeted California’s counting process, and experts have warned that the combination of competitive districts and slow counting creates an opening for false claims about the results. Election officials and analysts have responded by explaining the process in advance: mail ballots take time to verify, signature checks are a security step rather than a delay tactic, and late-arriving ballots are legal under state law when postmarked by Election Day. The California Voter Foundation and other nonpartisan groups have argued for years that the state’s generous access policies — mailing every active registered voter a ballot — inevitably produce a slower count, and that speed should not be bought by restricting access.
For the House as a whole, the uncalled races will determine the final margin, which in turn determines how much room Speaker-in-waiting Hakeem Jeffries has to lose votes on difficult bills. A majority of 255, as one network estimate suggested, would be comfortable; a narrower majority would make every absence and every dissent consequential. That is why both parties watched the uncalled races closely even after control was settled: the margin shapes governing, not just bragging rights. As counting continues through November 10 for mail ballots and into December for certification, the margin will move, and the final House picture will only be complete when state officials certify their results. Until then, every race described here should be read as projected or leading, not final.
The pattern in these uncalled races also reveals something about the geography of the 2026 House map. The closest contests clustered in the West — California, Colorado, Washington, Arizona and Nevada — where mail voting is widespread and where redistricting, both partisan and court-ordered, created new and unfamiliar districts. Eastern states, where most voters still vote in person on Election Day, reported more complete counts sooner. That geographic split is not a flaw in any state’s system; it reflects different choices about access. States that mail every voter a ballot accept a slower count in exchange for higher participation, while states that rely on in-person voting count faster but may miss voters who cannot reach a polling place. Both models are legitimate, and both produce certified results in the end — but they produce different election nights, and the public’s expectations have not yet caught up with the slower Western count.
There is also a lesson here for candidates in uncalled races themselves. In a close race, the days after Election Day are a second campaign: legal teams monitor ballot curing, campaigns encourage voters whose ballots were flagged for signature problems to fix them, and both sides prepare for recounts where state law provides for them. California’s cure process, for example, allows voters to correct a missing or mismatched signature within a set window, and those cured ballots can move a close margin. Candidates who organise a strong ballot-curing operation can therefore gain votes after Election Day that were not visible in the first returns — a fact that surprises voters who assume the count on election night is final, but that election officials have explained for years as a normal part of the process.
Sources
USN reviewed reporting from multiple outlets for this story. Read more from DNYUZ, 270toWin and The Monument Independent.