The Divided States

Republicans retain Senate control but House loss looks likely

DEMOCRATS were poised to seize the House majority from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party last night in a suburban revolt that threatened what’s left of the President’s governing agenda.

But the GOP gained ground in the Senate and preserved key governorships, beating back a “blue wave” that never fully materialised.

The mixed verdict in the first nationwide election of Mr Trump’s young presidency underscored the limits of his hardline immigration rhetoric in America’s evolving political landscape, where college-educated voters in the nation’s suburbs rejected his warnings of a migrant “invasion” while blue-collar voters and rural America embraced them.

Still, the new Democratic House majority ends the Republican Party’s dominance in Washington for the final two years of Mr Trump’s first term, with major questions looming about health care, immigration and government spending.

The President’s party will maintain control of the executive and judicial branches, in addition to the Senate, but Democrats suddenly have a foothold that gives them subpoena power to probe deep into Mr Trump’s personal and professional missteps – and his long-withheld tax returns.

“Tomorrow will be a new day in America,” declared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who is in line to become the next House speaker.

There were signs of extraordinary turnout in states including Georgia and Nevada.

The Democrats picked up the 23 seats they had to wrest from the GOP, but were still short of the 218 total for a House majority, with more races to be decided.

Mr Trump sought to take credit for retaining the GOP’s Senate majority, even as the party’s foothold in the more competitive House battlefield appeared to be slipping.

“Tremendous success tonight. Thank you to all!” he tweeted.