WASHINGTON, D.C. – As election returns continue to come in in the U.S. midterm elections, so far it is shaping up to be a long and painful night for Republicans.
News organizations have now projected that the Democrats will take control of the United States House of Representatives. The Democrats needed a net gain of only three seats in order to take control of the House.
As of 10p.m. projections are that the Democrats will go well past that and that the GOP could end up with its worst election result in 20 years in the House, although numbers are still very preliminary.
Projections are not yet all in for the U.S. Senate races but the Democrats are already projected as having picked up two formerly Republican Senate seats in both North Carolina and more shockingly in South Carolina, where incumbent Darline Graham has lost to Democrat Annie Andrews. Graham is the sister of the late former Senator Lindsey Graham.
The Democrats have also flipped the seat in Ohio where Sherrod Brown won over incumbent Jon Husted. Perhaps the biggest shock result has been in Texas where James Talarico is projected to have defeated Republican Ken Paxton in a major result.
That gives the Democrats a net gain of four in the Senate, the exact number they would need to take control of the upper chamber. So far the Democrats are also in the lead over Republicans in pivotal Senate races in Michigan, Ohio, Iowa, and Kansas, which would be more than enough to take control of the Senate if the results hold.
In the pivotal border state of Maine, longtime incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins has jumped back into the lead with still over half the vote yet to be counted.
Votes are also being counted for several statehouse and governor's races, as well as a high profile mayor's race in Los Angeles where Karen Bass is seeking re-election against Nithya Raman. So far Democrats have won in important governor's races in Georgia and Ohio and had pulled off a major upset in usually-Republican Texas, where Republican governor Greg Abbott lost to Gina Hinojosa.
Not all the races are expected to be decided tonight, with many mail-in ballots still to be counted in the coming days particularly on the West Coast.
Vote results are expected to continue to come in late into the night but the results are so far proving to be a blow to the White House and President Donald Trump, who campaigned actively in a number of swing states.
In a statement on social media Trump voiced defiance, posting: "I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"
It also is not immediately clear what this will mean for the trade dispute between the United States and Canada, and whether this will result in a cooling off of trade tensions in the wake of the results.
