Tillis-Cunningham US Senate race too early to call

RALEIGH, NC (AP) — North Carolina’s U.S. Senate race between Republican incumbent Thom Tillis and Democratic challenger Cal Cunningham is too early to call, with many votes yet to be counted.

Tillis led Cunningham by nearly 97,000 votes from among more than 5.4 million votes counted through early Wednesday.

There were still outstanding mail-in absentee ballots and an unknown number of provisional ballots cast. Tillis celebrated what he called a victory in a speech to supporters Tuesday night.

The Associated Press hasn’t yet declared a winner in the race.

Cunningham didn’t say anything publicly immediately about the unofficial results.