The Hill’s Campaign Report: Election mess drags on l Trump campaign suing to stop vote counts in Mich., Penn. l Republicans outperforming expectations in House, Senate

Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, your daily rundown on all the latest news in the 2020 presidential, Senate and House races. Did someone forward this to you? Click here to subscribe.

We’re Julia Manchester, Max Greenwood and Jonathan Easley. Here’s what we’re watching today on the campaign trail:

LEADING THE DAY:

Vote counting to determine the winner of the White House is ongoing in key battleground states that remain undecided, including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina and Georgia.

Democratic nominee Joe Biden is projected to win Wisconsin but he still remains short of the 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House. Biden and his campaign say all the data points to the former vice president winning the election when the vote count is complete.

President Trump’s campaign has already requested a recount in Wisconsin. In Michigan, which several networks called for Biden late in the afternoon, the president’s campaign has filed a lawsuit to halt the counting of votes, saying they hadn’t been given “meaningful access” to watch the count. The campaign is also suing to stop the vote count in Pennsylvania, where Trump leads, to stop votes that are currently permitted to be counted as long as they are received by Friday.

Trump’s campaign believes the networks wrongly called Arizona, where more than 600,000 ballots still need to be counted and the race is within 100,000 votes. They say they’re confident they’ll win Pennsylvania, whether the Supreme Court intervenes or not, and piece together enough states to win a second term. That would require Trump also holding on in North Carolina and Georgia, where he leads but votes still need to be counted.

In short, it’s a mess.

Biden appears right now to have the slight upper hand, but there is too much confusion about the remaining vote count and enough uncertainty around the outstanding states that it’s too early to know how or when this will end.

Max Greenwood: Where things stand in the uncalled states.

Brett Samuels: Campaigns fundraise in anticipation of pricy legal battles.

There are a few things we do know for certain.

Biden has won more votes than any candidate in history.

And the polls and election analysts appear to have once again greatly underestimated the strength of Trump’s support.

The race is far closer than anyone expected heading into Tuesday. Trump held his 2016 support among white working-class voters and shockingly turned out huge numbers of Latino voters who propelled him to victories in Texas and Florida.

Jonathan Easley: Polling outlets draw fire after missing the mark again.

CONGRESS:

The polling misses and surprising election results also resonated down the ballot.

Democrats were the heavy favorite to win a majority in the Senate, but it appears that Republicans have a better chance now of holding on to power.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) has defeated Democrat Sara Gideon, who led in every single poll released this cycle. So far, Republicans have only lost Sens. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) and Martha McSally (R-Ariz.) from their ranks.

That means Democrats will hold at least 47 seats, compared to 48 for Republicans.

Five races remain uncalled involving Sens. Gary Peters (D-Mich.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.). Loeffler is headed to a runoff that will take place on Jan. 5.

Meanwhile, in the House…

Democrats were expected to pick up between 5 and 15 House seats.

But many toss-up seats and even seats rated as leaning toward Democrats broke for Republicans, and it appears that the GOP will grow their ranks, potentially by up to a half-dozen seats or more.

Scott Wong and Mike Lillis: House Democrats fall way short in disappointing night.

That’s an absolutely stunning result that no one saw coming, and there will be consequences for the Democratic majority.

Scott Wong and Mike Lillis have the scoop — two moderate House Democrats say they and other centrists are privately discussing supporting a challenger to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Stay with The Hill as this all unfolds in the days ahead.