(Bloomberg) -- A federal judge in Florida ended a hearing Wednesday evening without ruling on a recount that Democratic Senator Bill Nelson wants in his U.S. Senate race with Republican Governor Rick Scott.

Nelson claims in a lawsuit that election officials under Scott wrongly invalidated votes in last week’s midterm election in Florida. Scott leads Nelson by fewer than 12,600 votes, out of more than 8.2 million cast in the state.

The candidates are also awaiting court rulings in south Florida and statewide recount results that could affect thousands more votes.

The case is one of several playing out after Democrats retook control of the House while Republicans held on to their Senate majority. The Florida recount will decide the fate of the Senate seat and a governorship in a state that will be pivotal in the 2020 presidential contest.

While the results won’t shift control of the Senate, they will determine how big a cushion Republicans have to continue confirming President Donald Trump’s judicial and other nominees.

U.S. District Judge Mark Walker said that even small numbers of ballots may make a big difference, "since 500 votes determined the leader of the free world" in Florida in 2000, when a 537-vote margin handed the presidency to George W. Bush over Al Gore.

To contact the reporter on this story: Erik Larson in New York at elarson4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Glovin at dglovin@bloomberg.net, Peter Jeffrey, Flynn McRoberts

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