US MIDTERM POLLS

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Wednesday hailed a “big day” for Republicans after his party lost control of the House of Representatives in the US midterm elections but increased their Senate majority.

He offered an olive branch to the Democrats, praising their leader and likely next House speaker Nancy Pelosi, but angrily lashed out at journalists for questioning his congressional campaign tactics.

Democrats will have 229 seats in the 435-member House, while Republicans will hold 53 seats in the 100-member Senate, up from 51, according to projections by The New York Times.

“It was a big day yesterday, an incredible day,” Trump told a news conference at the White House. “And last night... the Republican Party defied history to expand our Senate majority while significantly beating expectations in the House.”

Republicans defeated Democratic senators in several states won by Trump in 2016 - Florida, Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota. Republican senate candidates were also leading in Arizona and Montana. Democrats appear to have won a Republican Senate seat in Nevada.

Democrats also picked up seven governorships but fell

short in a high-profile race in Florida, expected to play a key role in the 2020 presidential election.

Trump reeled off a shopping list of disadvantages the Republicans had faced going into Tuesday’s vote, including “wealthy donors and special interests,” for the Democrats, and “very hostile media coverage, to put it mildly.” “We also had a staggering number of House retirements. So it is a little tough,” he added.

“These are seats that could’ve been held pretty easily. And we had newcomers going in. And a lot of them worked very hard. But it is very difficult when you have that many retirements.”

But he called out Republicans who did not accept his offer of campaign help, saying they failed to accept his “embrace.” “You have some that said, “Let’s stay away, let’s stay away.’ They did very poorly,” Trump said.

The Republican president said he would “like to see bipartisanship” and offered Pelosi “a lot

of credit for what she has done and accomplished.” He cited health care and infrastructure as areas where the two parties could work together. “Hopefully we can all work together next year to continue delivering for the American people,” he said.

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