12:46 – Bill Nelson conceded his race to Nelson:

Nelson advisor Dan McLaughlin told supporters at Nelson’s election night event at the Embassy Suites in Orlando that the campaign had concerns about ballot counting in several south Florida counties.

But just after midnight, the Nelson campaign said he would concede.

“This is obviously not the result Senator Nelson’s campaign has worked hard for,” said Pete Mitchell, Nelson’s campaign manager. “The senator will be making a full statement tomorrow to thank all those who rallied for his cause.”

12:28 – Keep an eye on Wisconsin and Scott Walker …

*holds breath* https://t.co/6R72Umm572

— Dan McLaughlin (@baseballcrank) November 7, 2018

12:23 – Fox calls the MN AG race for Keith Ellison. That’s … stunning, but it’s part of a bad night for the MN GOP.

12:18 – The networks haven’t called it, but the Miami Herald declares Rick Scott the winner in the FL Senate race:

Rick Scott did it again.

Powered by a highly-motivated Republican turnout and another $60 million from his vast personal fortune, Gov. Scott clinched a seat in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday and dislodged deeply-entrenched Democrat Bill Nelson from office.

Despite a record turnout for a Florida midterm election and widespread predictions of a Democratic “blue wave,” Scott won his third straight statewide election.

11:55 – Jason Lewis is conceding MN-02 to Angie Craig. This district was slipping away from the GOP for the last several years. Lewis finished closer than polling would have indicated, but this is a disappointment more than a surprise.

11:41 – Just got new numbers in the MN AG race, and Wardlow now only trails by four points. The outstate vote is starting to make an impact.

11:39 – Jeff Johnson just delivered his concession speech here at MN GOP HQ. Starting to thin out here in the room.

11:21 – Scott Walker has closed the gap in Wisconsin, only back 0.8% with 72% of precincts reporting.

11:18 – Housley delivers a concession speech, pledging to unify after the election.

11:15 – Unfortunately, Karin Housley has lost her bid for the US Senate. Tina Smith had a much bigger lead than polling predicted, and that might be bad news for Doug Wardlow in his race against Keith Ellison. There’s still a lot of votes in greater Minnesota, though.

11:09 – Fox calls MO Senate race for Josh Hawley. Claire McCaskill is trailing by 12 points with 75% of the precincts reporting.

11:04 – Worth pointing out that pollsters hadn’t even given DeSantis a lead in this race, except for Trafalgar this morning. The RCP average was Gillum +3,6, but Gillum led nearly every single poll.

Update: Gillum concedes in Florida:

LIVE: Democrat Gillum concedes to Republican DeSantis in Florida gubernatorial race https://t.co/NAmmpCjnJ6

— Reuters (@Reuters) November 7, 2018

10:56 – First big call on this thread: DFL keeps MN governor’s office as Fox calls it for Tim Walz.

10:51 – We’re not highlighting the governor races in Ohio and Georgia, but there’s good news for GOP in both states. Ohio has been called for Republican Mike DeWine, who defeats Richard Cordray. Brian Kemp leads Stacy Abrams by 10 points with 84% of precincts reporting. Both of those were big spotlight races for Democrats.

10:43 – Scott’s lead in Florida just went to 50.9/49.1. Still at 99% reporting.

10:37 –  Jason Lewis is within two points of Angie Craig in MN-02 with 45% of precincts reporting. Still not out of range. Housley’s way back, although we’re mainly seeing Twin Cities Metro results.

10:33 – Not sure why MO hasn’t been called yet for Hawley; he’s up 16 points with 60% reporting.

10:30 – Jim Newberger says he won’t concede against Amy Klobuchar until all the votes are counted.

10:23 –  NBC and Reuters now projecting that Democrats will control the House. That’s also not a surprise.

10:20 – ABC says the GOP will keep control of the Senate, based on their projections:

BREAKING: Republicans will retain control of the Senate, @ABC News projects. https://t.co/QF15MHa8Bu #ElectionNight pic.twitter.com/svNlXttgfG

— ABC News (@ABC) November 7, 2018

10:19 – The blue wave has not appeared, although it won’t take much for Democrats to win a majority. And they might not get much, either:

Republicans are outpacing the 538 forecast by 2 points in the House. Currently seeing 222 D-213 R in the House.

— Patrick Ruffini (@PatrickRuffini) November 7, 2018

10:14 – I’ve been following the governor’s race in Wisconsin, and Scott Walker was nursing a narrow lead until very recently. He’s trailing by four points now with 45% of the vote in. That’s going to be a tough race for Walker; Tammy Baldwin easily beat Leah Vukmir for the Senate seat.

10:04 – With 30% in for MO, Hawley is up 61/36.

10:02 – Paulsen is delivering his concession speech now. Pledges to coordinate a smooth transition.

9:59 – Still no calls for Florida yet, but the gaps went back down; Scott’s lead is down to 0.6%, but DeSantis is still up by a full point.

9:55 – MN-03 has been called for Dean Phillips, a loss of a House seat for the GOP and the end of the road for Erik Paulsen.

9:51 – Both Scott and DeSantis have slightly increased their leads in Florida now, 1% and 1.3% respectively. 99% in. Call coming soon?

9:39 – So far, the early results in MN are coming from MN-03, which is going big for the DFL, so all of the GOP candidates are trailing at the moment. It looks like Reps. Erik Paulsen and Jason Lewis are in big trouble.

9:33 – Gotta be close to calling FL gubernatorial race. DeSantis is up 1.2% with 99% reporting.

9:32 – Hawley up 59/38 with 15% reporting now.

9:20 – With 10% in, Josh Hawley’s way out in front of Claire McCaskill in MO.

9: 19 – First results coming in from Minnesota now; Housley trails 65/31 with 4% reporting.

9:16 – The votes are coming in slowly from the remaining precincts, but it’s not changing the gaps at all. Both DeSantis and Scott are narrowly leading.

9:09 – Sorry to see that Patrick Morrisey didn’t quite make it in West Virginia.

9:06 – Going live on AM 1280 The Patriot now!

9:03 – NBC just called it for Amy Klobuchar. Not a surprise, but we don’t actually have any returns yet.

9:01 – Polls are now closed in Minnesota as well as Missouri and Florida. We’ll start getting some results shortly.

8:59 – It’s funny — I would have guessed that Scott would be the stronger candidate but DeSantis is holding a slightly larger lead over Gillum thus far. He’s still up 1.2% with 96% in.

8:56 – The FL Senate race has narrowed a bit, with Scott up 0.8% but 96% reporting.

8:40 – Scott’s now pulling out to a full point lead with 94% of precincts reporting; DeSantis is up 1.2%.

8:30 – Missouri results starting to trickle in now; Hawley’s up 2:1 but only 1% of precincts reporting.

8:26 – Fox shows DeSantis ahead by 0.4% with 93% of precincts reporting? That was a fast calculation. The NY Times has Rick Scott up 0.2% with 70% reporting. That’s great news if it holds up, but get ready for recounts.

8:21 pm ET –  Welcome to the live blog! I just arrived at Election Night HQ for the MN GOP. Just getting settled in, but I notice that  we’re already seeing a call for Sherrod Brown in Ohio. Florida polls just closed 20 mins or so ago, so I’ll take a look and catch up soon.

Original post follows …

We’re finally down to the wire in all the key races. The ads have been aired, the candidates have been heard, the memes have all gone viral — so now it’s time to count the votes and then pick up the pieces. My Election Night coverage here will run in parallel with AM1280 The Patriot’s live broadcast from Republican election headquarters in Bloomington, Minnesota. I’m planning to do a few Facebook Live interviews and vignettes during the evening, so be sure to like our Hot Air Facebook page in order to get notified when I go live. (I’ll try to embed them in the live-blog as we go along, too.)

I’ll be watching Minnesota’s races, of course, as well as Florida and Missouri. There are Senate pickups at stake for the GOP in all three states, and real shots at success in each one, too. Karin Housley’s a long shot but still within range of an unimpressive appointed incumbent, Tina Smith, while Josh Hawley and Rick Scott are in tight races for flips. Florida and Minnesota have key gubernatorial races as well, and of course all three have lots of House races to follow to see whether the GOP can hold its majority.

There are also ballot initiatives in Florida, which my friend Jess Clackum helpfully boils down for us:

https://twitter.com/JessicaClackum/status/1059870707478421505

Yeah … never mind. Turnout has been high all day in Florida, however, even with a massive increase in early voting this year. We’ll see if that plays into the Trafalgar poll from earlier today.

Polls start closing in my states at 8 pm ET. I’ll start live-blogging a little while after that, when I’m fully ensconced at the radio remote desk. Be sure to watch the top of the post for updates, latest on top, and listen to our broadcast!