By means of LISA MASCARO, MARIE CLAIRE JALONICK

Part

The elections in the House of Representatives remain a tit-for-tat fight to the end, without a dominant route to the majority for either party. Rarely, if ever, have the two chambers of Congress swung in opposite directions.

Each party wins and loses a few seats, partly through the redistricting process, which consists of the routine redrawing of seat boundaries in the House of Representatives. The process resets seats in North Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama.

Much of the outcome depends on the West, especially in California, where a handful of seats in the House of Representatives are hotly contested and ballots arriving a week after the election are still being counted. Closely fought races around the “blue dot” in Omaha, Nebraska and as far away as Alaska are being watched, among other places.