As Election Day arrived, political analysts and strategists were quick to air their predictions on whether an election outcome will be known quickly or drag on, and on how the Senate and House races will shape up.
"It could take days for officials to count mail-in ballots — and then there will be recounts and inevitable lawsuits that could take weeks to resolve," Greg Valliere, chief U.S. policy strategist for AGF Investments, said in his Tuesday morning email briefing. "It's 2020 after all; expect the unexpected."
Democratic strategist James Carville said Monday on MSNBC, however, that "we're going to know the winner of this election by 10 tomorrow night. What people are doing is unnecessarily scaring people and making them unnecessarily nervous."
Carville, the lead strategist during former President Bill Clinton's campaign, added: "I am not the least bit concerned about the outcome tomorrow night, and I'm not the least bit concerned that we're going to have to wait weeks and months to know what the result is."
Andy Friedman, founder and principal of The Washington Update, told ThinkAdvisor via email Tuesday that "Trump has a better chance to win than people realize," and "I think he will win Florida."
Pennsylvania, however, "is a toss-up," he said. "If Trump wins Pennsylvania as well, he needs to win two of Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and North Carolina to win the election."