Democrat wins tight Arizona Senate race
The US state of Arizona has elected its first female senator, after Democrat Kyrsten Sinema beat Republican Martha McSally in a tight race.Ms Sinema is the southern state's first Democratic senator since 1994. The win narrows the Republican majority to four seats (51-47), with two more Senate races remaining unresolved.
In Florida, a recount has been ordered by law after unofficial results fell within a 0.5% margin. Mississippi will hold a run-off vote later this month. With almost all the votes counted, Ms Sinema had a lead of 1.7% over her rival. She takes the seat vacated by Jeff Flake, a frequent critic of Trump.
Ms Sinema, 42, later addressed her cheering supporters in Scottsdale, near Phoenix, speaking of the urgent need to heal the bitter political rancour dividing Americans.
She paid tribute to the memory of the late John McCain, who also represented Arizona in the Senate until his death earlier this year, saying he had set a shining example of how to put national interests above party political ones. "Senator McCain is irreplaceable," she said, "but his example will guide our next steps forward.
He taught us to always assume the best in others, to seek compromise instead of sowing division, and to always put country ahead of party."Republican Ms McSally, a 52-year-old former combat fighter pilot, conceded defeat.
In a video message posted on Twitter, she said: "I just called Kyrsten Sinema and congratulated her on becoming Arizona's first female senator after a hard-fought battle." Votes are being recounted in the Florida senate race, which pits incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson against the state's Republican Governor Rick Scott.
Florida Secretary of State Ken Detzner has ordered that all 67 of the state's counties complete machine recounts for the Senate by 15:00 local time (20:00 GMT) on Thursday.In Georgia's gubernatorial election, Democrat Stacey Abrams is refusing to concede in her race against Republican Brian Kemp.
Kemp declared victory on Wednesday with a narrow lead but campaign officials for Ms Abrams have started a legal challenge to ensure all votes are counted.Her supporters have claimed that issues such as ballot machines supplied without power cables and four-hour queues unfairly helped Kemp.
An ongoing tally has whittled Kemp's lead slightly to under 60,000 votes, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Sunday.But Ms Abrams still needs another 22,000 votes to trigger a run-off election next month, and it is unclear how many ballots remain outstanding.
Meanwhile, in Mississippi, Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith faces Democrat Mike Espy in a run-off vote after neither managed to reach 50% in the first round, winning 41.5% and 40.6% respectively.The vote will take place on 27 November.
