WASHINGTON - AMERICANS awoke on Wednesday to a vastly different political landscape, with Republicans retaking the House of Representatives as US voters rebuke President Barack Obama and the hopes of his historic 2008 election win.
Resurgent Republicans, led by the ultra-conservative Tea Party movement, steamrolled Democrats in Tuesday's key mid-term election by taking at least 60 seats for a commanding majority in the House. It was one of the chamber's largest political swings of the past century.
Beleaguered Democrats clung onto the Senate, but the Republicans netted six seats, with two more battleground states, Colorado and Washington, yet to be declared. They needed an unlikely 10 pickups to take the Senate.
By early Wednesday, the Republicans had 46 seats in the US Senate against 51 for the Democrats out of 100 seats total, with three seats still in dispute.
In the House, the Republicans won at least 239 of the 435 seats, with 12 seats still in dispute.
Republican also picked up 10 governorships, riding a wave of Republican enthusiasm across all regions on the country.
The Republican House victory will force Nancy Pelosi, the first-ever woman chamber speaker, from power. -- AFP
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