Live updates on 2022 midterm Election Day

A new NBC News model of party control within the U.S. House of Representatives estimates that Republicans will ultimately win 219 seats and Democrats will win 216, with a 13-seat margin of error.

While these numbers are merely estimates, they offer a window into what is turning out to be a better-than-expected night for Democrats in the House. Many in the party and in the Biden White House began the day expecting to lose the razor-thin Democratic House majority by at least 20 seats.

But unexpected wins by Democrats such as incumbent Rep. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and challenger Wiley Nickel in North Carolina, according to NBC News projections, changed their calculus.

NBC’s new model also suggests there is still a possibility that Democrats could maintain a majority, an outcome that seemed unthinkable just a few hours ago.

President Joe Biden spent the night at the White House, calling victorious Democratic candidates to congratulate them.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump hosted an election night party at his Florida resort with a full pool of reporters present.

Trump has endorsed hundreds of Republican candidates running for office on his MAGA platform. But instead of celebrating scores of victories on Tuesday night, the former president gave a very short speech before spending several hours mostly at a table in the reception room, surrounded by friends and aides.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reserved a party room in Washington, D.C., for what was expected to be a speech celebrating the Republican takeover and his future title of House speaker.

As of 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday, however, McCarthy had not shown up at his own event.

— Christina Wilkie

Pennsylvania’s Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman will defeat Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz in a pivotal Senate race that could prove a decisive blow in the battle for control of the upper chamber of Congress, NBC News projected.

Fetterman will succeed retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, moving a Republican-held Senate seat into Democratic hands.

Democrats, who held the slimmest-possible Senate majority heading into Election Day, were banking on flipping the seat in the key swing state, where President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump two years earlier.

The projected verdict deals another blow to Trump, who backed Oz in a hard-fought GOP primary election and campaigned for him in the general election.

— Kevin Breuninger

Michigan’s Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson will win reelection against her Trump-backed Republican challenger Kristina Karamo, NBC News projected.

Karamo, who sought to become Michigan’s top elections official, has spread claims bolstering the falsehood that…