Journalist Derby: Expect Runoffs, Recounts in Midterms

With polls tightening, ads multiplying and voter drives still going full tilt, it's a good bet that election-night results on Nov. 4 won't be the last word on the midterms, a Florida-based journalist covering politics and campaigns told Newsmax TV on Monday.

"We're going to see recounts in a lot of key states both in gubernatorial races and U.S. Senate contests," Kevin Derby, senior political reporter for Sunshine State News, told "MidPoint" host Ed Berliner.

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Derby said that Senate races in Louisiana and Georgia will produce run-off elections if neither candidate wins 50 percent of the vote next Tuesday — and a run-off scenario looks possible in both cases.

In North Carolina, he said, a recount is possible if the tallies are as close as the polling is right now between incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan, a Democrat, and Republican challenger Thom Tillis, the state's legislature's House speaker.

He said the Senate contest in Iowa between Republican Jodi Ernst and Democrat Bruce Braley is likewise "down to the wire."

And in his own state of Florida, where victory by less than .5 percent triggers an automatic recount in statewide races, Derby said that Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic challenger Charlie Crist have legal teams "already on the phone" and "getting their homework done" just in case.

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