Five House races still up in the air
The presidential election was nearly a week ago, but not every candidate is yet aware of his or her fate: In a handful of House races across the country, it's still not clear which candidate won. Below, CBS News rounds up the five races from the 2012 election that have yet to be called.
Arizona's 2nd District:
In Arizona's 2nd district, Ron Barber is fighting to keep Gabby Giffords' old seat in Democratic hands. Barber, a former aide to Giffords who was injured alongside her in the Tucson shooting, is locked in an extraordinarily tight contest with Republican Martha McSally, whom he currently leads by just a little over 300 votes.
Given the district's recent electoral history, it's no surprise the race is close: In 2010, then-Rep. Giffords fought hard to hold on to her seat, which she won by a slim margin.
At this point, however, it's too early to say which candidate will eke out a lead: In Pima and Maricopa counties - the latter of which provided inaccurate information to voters on multiple occasions during the campaign- hundreds of thousands of provisional and early votes remain uncounted.
In a statement yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid issue a stern warning concerning "the situation in Arizona," and demanded "All of the votes in Arizona must be counted promptly, accurately and equally."
"The uncounted votes in Maricopa County alone represent a major portion of the total votes cast in Arizona on Tuesday," Reid said.
California's 7th and 52nd Districts:
California is home to two unresolved races: In the 7th district, Democrat Ami Bera is attempting to hold onto a razor-thin lead over Republican Rep. Dan Lungren. The vote tallying continues in this Sacramento-area district, and as of last week there were nearly 200,000 ballots that had yet to be processed. According to the Sacramento Bee, the race was expected to come down to the wire: The county has a close registration split between Democrats and Republicans, and the contest was flooded with outside money. Currently, Bera leads Lungren by less than 2,000 votes.
Meanwhile, in the state's 52nd District, in San Diego, Democrat Scott Peters and GOP Rep. Brian Bilbray are separated by less than 1,500 votes. San Diego County continues to tally a number of mail-in and provisional ballots.
North Carolina's 7th District:
The race is even closer in North Carolina's 7th district, which encompasses the southern tip of the state. Eight-term Democratic Rep. Mike McIntyre is leading Republican challenger David Rouzer by about 500 votes. Later this week, any outstanding absentee and provisional ballots will be counted, and a final tally will be released. According to the Fay Observer, McIntyre has rounded up a team of volunteers and lawyers to monitor election officials in the remaining vote-counting activities.
Florida's 18th District:
Technically, the contest in Florida's 18th District is essentially over: Democrat Patrick Murphy is leading the controversial incumbent Republican Allen West by a little less than 2,000 votes. But West, a Tea Party-backed one-term Republican, has refused to concede the race. Despite the fact that Murphy's lead is outside the margin of victory that would allow for a recount, the West team has refused to give up. According to WPTV-TV, GOP officials in the district are demanding a full recount of early votes, as well as evidence that the number of voter signatures at polling places match up with the number of ballots counted. And while he has so far gained little ground in his protracted efforts to contest the race, the candidate doesn't appear poised to give up any time soon.
