John Sudworth
North America Correspondent, in Pennsylvania

Josh Shapiro’s win – greeted with applause here in McGillin’s Olde Ale House in downtown Philadelphia - offers a crumb of comfort for those Americans worried about the myth of the stolen election and its seeming refusal to die. But only a crumb.

Doug Mastriano, a retired army colonel, was as far out there as you could get, with his full-on embrace of election denialism. And it was just one of a host of extreme views he paraded throughout this election, including a hardline anti-abortion stance and the claim – to paraphrase somewhat – that Jesus was basically on his campaign staff.

Shapiro, the current state attorney general, ran on a promise of education and criminal justice reform and, in the end, even some moderate Republicans will have preferred that to the alternative.

McGillin’s as a pub has seen plenty of political ups and downs. It served its first beer in 1860, when America was on the brink of its civil war - an event some see dark reminders of in today’s sharply divided political landscape.

The tight senate race in Georgia is one of the key battles being watched. Counting so far is still close between Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock and his challenger Herschel Walker.

Walker rallied his supporters earlier tonight.

The Republicans have already won the state's governors race, with Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams failing to unseat Brian Kemp.

Image source, Getty Images

Voting has just finished in Hawaii, and there's just one hour to go until voting in Alaska finishes.

Stay with us for all the latest updates from around the US.

Bad night for Republicans in New Hampshire after Bolduc losspublished at 04:59 Greenwich Mean Time 9 November 2022

04:59 GMT 9 November 2022

Jane O'Brien
BBC News, reporting from New Hampshire

Despite his history of denying the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Donald Trump lost, Republican senate candidate Don Bolduc in New Hampshire says he will accept his own defeat tonight.

"The experts have called it. But this is not a loss. We woke a lot of people up,” he told supporters.

He was always in a tight race against Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan - but he didn’t come close to beating her. After an optimistic campaign, the party has a lot of questions to answer.

“Instead of a red wave we got a blue wave,” says Chris Ager, who represents New Hampshire on the National Republican Committee.

It’s been a bad night for Republicans in the Granite State who were hoping to take the senate and at least one house seat. Instead, they are also losing seats in the state government.

Ager said Bolduc was out-matched financially by Democrats.

He said tonight’s defeat had no bearing on 2024. “That is going to be a completely new dynamic because it will be a presidential election and the focus will be on the presidential candidates and their issues,” he said.

It's approaching midnight on the US east coast, and we've seen a mixed bag of results so far.

In the battle for the Senate, no seats have yet flipped but a handful of crucial races have been decided:

• JD Vance has survived a bruising contest in Ohio to keep the state's Senate seat in Republican hands
• Republicans have also held on for victory in unexpectedly tight races in North Carolina and Iowa
• Meanwhile, Democrats have successfully fended off challengers in New Hampshire and Washington

We are still watching for results from close contests in Georgia, Pennsylvania and Nevada.

Republicans are currently favoured to win back control in the House.

Governor's races have been a source of intrigue all night:

• Democrat Josh Shapiro has handily defeated an election-denying opponent in Pennsylvania
• Kathy Hochul has survived a tough race in New York
• Democrats flipped Republican-held seats in Massachusetts and Maryland
• But Republican Brian Kemp defeated Democratic rising star Stacey Abrams in Georgia, and Republicans retained high profile governors' mansions in Texas and Florida

Results are changing so quickly and our maps are trying to keep up. You can view the latest results on our full results page...

Image source, Reuters

We've just reported that Democrat Stacey Abrams has lost her second bid for Georgia governor.

Speaking to supporters this evening, she opened by offering congratulations to her Republican opponent Brian Kemp.

"I got into this race for one reason only: to fight, and not just any fight - a fight to save Georgia," Abrams said.

She said the people of Georgia came from different backgrounds, different religions and were divided on certain issues - "but for the most part, we want the same things - to live in a Georgia that works for everyone".

In a forceful speech, Abrams said what gave her hope was that many were ready to fight for her vision of what Georgia could be. "What we have architected in this state does not end today," Abrams said.

Abrams, a voting rights advocate who has been widely credited for turning out black voters in Georgia, has been a rising star for the Democratic Party. She was also a contender to be Joe Biden's vice-president.

This is her second loss to Kemp, whom she was narrowly defeated by in 2018. Democrats had high hopes for her 2022 bid for governor, as her political celebrity has only increased since her 2018 loss.

Image source, Getty Images

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican who sparked Trump's ire in 2020 after refusing to back his baseless claims of voter fraud, will retain his seat, according to CBS News.

A leaked transcript of a call between Raffensperger and Trump in the days after the election show how Trump asked him to "find" the votes he needed to win the state.

Georgia backed Joe Biden in 2020 - the first time since 1992 that voters in the Peach State backed a Democrat for president.

Image source, Getty Images

Senate Republican candidate Herschel Walker appeared at a campaign event in Georgia a little earlier to rally his supporters in Atlanta.

"Let me tell y'all, hang in there a little bit longer. Something good, it takes a while to get better," he said.

"Thank you guys for hanging in," continued the former NFL star. "And if you have to go home, you will wake up tomorrow and see the news, the new Senator will be Herschel Walker."

Despite running on a stridently anti-abortion platform, the race has been rocked after two women anonymously came forward to say he pressured them into getting abortions.

Gary O'Donoghue
Reporting from Georgia

This is looking like a pretty resounding victory for Brian Kemp, who only squeaked past Stacey Abrams in 2018 with a margin of 1.4%.

Not all the votes are in, but the gap this time is creeping up towards nine points.

Kemp, who stood out against Donald Trump’s attempts to change Georgia’s results in 2020, has benefited from a sound economic record, introducing a moratorium on state gas taxes and successes such as bringing new industry to Georgia, including two car plants.

Republican JD Vance is projected to win the race for Ohio senator, according to our partners CBS.

Vance had been a critic of Trump, before later backtracking and getting his endorsement.

Vance was facing off against rising Democratic star Tim Ryan.

US president Joe Biden has tweeted that he has called to congratulate some of the winners this evening, including those he helped campaign for on the road.

He also urged those voters who were still waiting to vote to "stay in line!"

Voters in the state of Massachusetts have made history by electing the nation's first lesbian governor.

Democrat Maura Healey is projected to have defeated her Republican challenger Geoff Diehl, flipping a governor's seat held by Republicans, according to CBS News.

Healey, 51, will also be the first woman ever elected governor in state history.

Currently the state attorney general, she has vowed to fight back against anti-LGBT legislation as governor.

Democrat Josh Shapiro is projected to win Pennsylvania's race for governor, according to our partners CBS.

He was facing off against Doug Mastriano, an election denier who marched on the Capitol on 6 January 2021 - the day of the Capitol Hill riot.

Republican Brian Kemp is projected to retain his governor's seat, according to our partners CBS.

CBS reports that his Democratic opponent, Stacey Abrams, has called the governor to concede.

Image source, Getty Images

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who some believe harbours presidential ambitions, is projected to win the race for governor, according to our partners CBS.

In Idaho, a reliably red state, Republican Governor Brad Little is projected to keep his seat, according to CBS

Anthony Zurcher
Reporting from Washington

The night is still young, but for the moment the good news for Republicans is primarily coming from one state – Florida.

Republicans, with a big assist from newly re-elected Governor Ron DeSantis, have picked up three House seats there, which sets them well on their way to the five needed to gain control of the chamber.

Elsewhere, the results are a mixed bag. There were three Democratic-controlled House seats in Virginia that were in play, and the party has won at least two.

A Democrat still leads in a Rhode Island House contest that polls had suggested would flip to the Republicans. The kind of at-risk Democrats who would have been swamped in a massive Republican wave are surviving so far.

Meanwhile, key Senate seats in Pennsylvania and Georgia remain too close to call, and Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan – who appeared at risk in recent polls – has held her seat in New Hampshire.

There are still plenty of contested races in the western US where results have only started to come in. The script for the 2022 midterm elections has not yet been finished, but it’s shaping up to be a long and complicated one.

Polls just closed in California, Oregon and Washington where a few tight races are being closely watched.

Oregon's governor race is split three ways, after a former Democratic state lawmaker chose to run as an Independent - splitting the Democratic vote in the famously liberal-leaning state.

Tina Kotek is the Democrats' nominee in Oregon. If she wins she'll be the second-ever lesbian governor in the US - after Massachusetts Democrat Maura Healey, who made history by winning her race earlier on Tuesday.

The race there also took a turn after Nike co-founder Phil Knight, the richest man in the state and one of the richest in the world, donated money to Independent Betsy Johnson before later backing Republican Christine Drazan.

California's 52 seats in the House of Representatives could go a long way towards determining who keeps control of the chamber, while longtime Washington Democratic Senator Patty Murray is facing an unexpectedly stiff challenge from political newcomer Tiffany Smiley.

Although polls have closed across the West, Alaska is still continuing to vote, with polls forecast to close there at 00:00 eastern time.

Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan is projected to retain her seat, according to our partners at CBS.

She faced a tough fight for re-election against Republican Don Bolduc - a retired one-star general with a history of denying the results of the 2020 election.

Although she was intially favoured to win, it was a closer race than many expected.