Counts underway but both U.S. House and Senate too close to call in U.S. midterms

Control of the U.S. Congress and the future of President Joe Biden's agenda were at stake in Tuesday's midterm elections as voters decided races for the House and Senate along with dozens of governorships and key election posts.

In Florida, a state that was once a battleground but has become increasingly Republican, Gov. Ron DeSantis defeated Democrat Charlie Crist. Former president Donald Trump said he personally voted for DeSantis, who won his second term, despite him being viewed as a potential leading Republican primary alternative to Trump should the governor jump into the 2024 White House race, as is widely expected.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio also won re-election, fending off a challenge from Democrat Val Demings and further illustrating the state's rightward shift.

Despite their liberal histories, states like Massachusetts, Maryland and Illinois have elected moderate Republican governors in the past. But the Republicans this year appeared to be too conservative in these states, handing Democrats easy victories in a year that could otherwise prove difficult for the party.

Massachusetts and Maryland also saw historic firsts: Democrat Maura Healey became the first woman elected as Massachusetts governor, and the first openly lesbian governor of any state, and Democrat Wes Moore became the first Black governor of Maryland. 

Both Democrats and Republicans saw opportunity in the other party's strongholds but came up short. In the Colorado Senate race, Democratic incumbent Michael Bennet defeated Republican Joe O'Dea, who was viewed as a formidable challenger in the liberal state due to his support for abortion rights.

In the Oklahoma governor's race, Republican Kevin Stitt won re-election despite facing an unusually stiff challenge after feuding with Republican legislators and Oklahoma-based Native American tribes.

In Georgia, Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican challenger Herschel Walker were vying for a seat that could determine control of the Senate. Republican Gov. Brian Kemp and Democrat Stacey Abrams were meeting for a rematch of their marquee 2018 campaign. The candidates in that state must win at least 50 per cent of the vote to avoid a December runoff.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, Democratic Reps. Abigail Spanberger and Elaine Luria were fending off spirited Republican opponents. The results there could serve as early signals of where the U.S. House majority is heading as Republicans hope to reclaim suburban districts that shifted to Democrats during Donald Trump's tumultuous presidency.

Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019 in the Trump administration, won election for governor in Arkansas.

And amid Republican gains in the U.S. House races in Florida, Democrat Maxwell Alejandro Frost became the first member of Generation Z to win a seat in Congress.

The outcome of races for House and Senate will determine the future of President Joe Biden's agenda and serve as a referendum on his administration as the nation reels from record-high inflation and concerns over the direction of the country. Republican control of the House would likely trigger a round of investigations into Biden and his family, while a Republican Senate takeover would hobble Biden's ability to make judicial appointments.

Democrats were facing historic headwinds. The party in power almost always suffers losses in the president's first midterm elections, but Democrats had been hoping that anger from the Supreme Court's decision to gut abortion rights might energize their voters to buck historical trends.

Even Biden, who planned to watch the evening's election returns at the White House, said late Monday night that he thought his party would keep the Senate but "the House is tougher." Asked how that would make governing, his assessment was stark: "More difficult."