American voters delivered a stinging midterm rebuke Tuesday to President Barack Obama and Democrats in Congress, turning control of the U.S. House of Representatives over to Republicans amid mounting anxiety and anger over the state of the nation’s economy.
Even as ballots were still being counted on the West Coast, the GOP was on its way to an electoral rout – easily exceeding the 39-seat gain the party needed to win a House majority for the first time since 2006.
"Across the country right now we are witnessing a repudiation of Washington, a repudiation of big government," said a tearful John Boehner, the Republican congressman who is set to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as the new Speaker of the House.
"The American people have sent an unmistakable message to (President Obama) tonight – and that message is, change course."
Democrats suffered substantial losses in conservative-leaning House districts – many of them in the economically depressed U.S. Midwest – that had embraced Obama’s promise of dramatic political change only two years ago.
Fox News projected the Republican takeover of the House at 9:12 eastern time – and later all major networks estimated the GOP would gain at least 60 seats in a midterm election landslide.
As of 5 a.m Wednesday morning, CNN reported that the GOP had claimed 238 seats, 20 more than the 218 needed to claim a majority.
But while the GOP swept Democrats from power in the House, Republicans fell short in their bid to take over the Senate, where they needed a 10-seat gain to win a majority.
Republicans picked up Senate seats in Arkansas, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Indiana, but lost crucial battles to unseat Democrats in Connecticut, Nevada and West Virginia.
In a symbolic defeat for the U.S. president, Republicans won the Illinois Senate seat vacated by Obama when he entered the White House.
The split decision in Congress portends two years of legislative gridlock, with Democrats in the Senate likely to be at odds on spending cuts with House Republicans.
The insurgent Tea Party movement, which emerged out of conservative opposition to Obama’s health care and stimulus legislation, flexed its electoral muscle early and often Tuesday night on behalf of Republican candidates.
Marco Rubio, the Tea Party-backed Senate candidate in Florida, won election to the Senate over the state’s outgoing governor Charlie Crist, a moderate Republican who was forced to run as an independent after losing his own party’s primary.
In Kentucky, libertarian Rand Paul was the projected winner over Democrat Jack Conway in a Senate race dominated by controversy over the Republican candidate’s personal views.
Paul, the son of former Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul, overcame a firestorm that swirled after he questioned historic civil rights legislation that desegregated the U.S. South in the 1960s. He promised not only to challenge Democrats in Congress, but to buck Republican leaders if they resist deep spending cuts being demanded by Tea Party voters.
"I have a message that is loud and clear and does not mince words. We have come to take our government back," said Paul. "Tonight there is a Tea Party tidal wave."
In Indiana, Republican Dan Coats won the Senate seat that is being vacated by longtime Democratic lawmaker Evan Bayh. In Wisconsin, Republican Ron Johnson defeated three-term Democratic incumbent Russ Feingold.
While Tea Party support helped boost dozens of Republicans to victory, their influence also proved costly in a pair of decisive Senate races.
Two of the weakest Tea Party-backed Republicans – Christine O’Donnell in Delaware and Sharron Angle in Nevada – lost their elections, defeats that were instrumental in sinking GOP hopes of winning control of the Senate.
O’Donnell, a former anti-masturbation activist, was undermined by a checkered personal past that included an admission she once dabbled in witchcraft.
The overriding themes Tuesday night were voter frustration with Washington politicians and deep dissatisfaction with the country’s direction.
According to exit polling, nearly 90 per cent of voters expressed concern about the economy.
With Republicans set to control the House, the only outstanding issue late Tuesday was the scope of its victory. At a minimum, Republican gains appeared certain to exceed the 54 seats they picked up in the "Republican Revolution" of 1994.
All 435 House seats were being contested on Tuesday, as well as 37 of the 100 Senate seats. Republicans are also hoping to make big gains at the state level, where voters will also decide 37 governors’ races.
One of the most closely watched gubernatorial races was in California, where Democrat Jerry Brown was the projected winner over former EBay CEO Meg Whitman, who spent in excess of $140 million of her personal fortune in a losing cause.
Democrats entered Tuesday night holding 255 seats in the House, while the Republicans held 178. In the Senate, Democrats controlled 59 seats and the Republicans 41 heading into the midterm balloting.
Even before the votes were counted, the White House was girding for a bad night. Obama scheduled a news conference for 1 p.m. on Wednesday to respond to the election.
It is widely expected he will use the occasion to extend an olive branch to Republican leaders – particularly those in the House – and offer to work together on issues including job creation and deficit reduction.
But Obama was hardly taking a conciliatory tone in the final hours before the ballots closed.
"Are we taking the steps now to move us in the right direction, or are going to go back to the policies that got us into that mess in the first place?" Obama said in an interview with a Los Angeles radio station.
The U.S. president warned about the consequences of turning over power to Republicans during several calls with media outlets in key battleground states.
"We have made progress all across the board but it is all at risk if people don’t turn out to vote," Obama told listeners of a radio show in Las Vegas.
"Just don’t do it for me. Just don’t do it because you think it is an obligation. Do it because it is important to you because you can shape your future and the country’s future for years to come just by taking the time to go out and cast your ballot."
The election results are likely to leave Obama badly damaged politically just two years after he swept to power on a promise to bring dramatic change to Washington.
With control of the White House and both chambers of Congress since the 2008 elections, Obama has pushed through an ambitious agenda – passing a $787-billion economic stimulus, bailing out the beleaguered auto industry and passing sweeping legislation to reform the U.S. financial industry.
But Americans gave the president overall low marks for his handling of the U.S. economy, where a weak recovery has left the nation’s unemployment rate near 10 per cent for much of the past several years.
In particular, pre-election polls found a majority of Americans questioned Obama’s decision to focus so much of his energy in passing sweeping health-care reforms while joblessness remained stubbornly high.
"I think that Obamacare was instrumental in causing some of the shift we saw tonight," said Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee.
Obama’s approval rating has hovered near or below 45 per cent for much of the past year.
"I think this is a referendum on President Obama’s policies," Haley Barbour, the Republican governor of Mississippi and a potential GOP presidential candidate in 2012, told MSNBC.
While a new, Republican-controlled House would not be seated until January, the election is expected to have immediate consequences.
One of the first tests of Obama’s ability to work with Republicans will come over the next month, as a lame-duck Congress decides how to deal with the pending expiration of temporary tax cuts passed during George W. Bush’s first term in office.
Obama has advocated extending the tax cuts to only working class and middle class Americans, while allowing tax rates to go up for American families earning $250,000 a year or more.
Republicans want to make the tax cuts permanent for all Americans.
On Tuesday night, Democrats appeared in no mood to compromise on the tax cut issue.
"The president feels very strongly that you ought to target these tax cuts to the folks who need it," said Tim Kaine, chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Obama is also likely to face a much bigger hurdle in his effort to pass comprehensive climate change legislation – one of White House’s major agenda items.
The GOP must "recognize that the president still controls the agenda, but they should work to cut spending, not allow taxes to go up, find things they can work with the president," Barbour said. "But we shouldn’t forget the president will still have the megaphone.
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