Republicans appeared to keep their grip on the House of Representatives overnight, overcoming months of efforts by Democrats to tarnish them by association with Donald Trump.
With results still incomplete, Democrats had hopes of making at least modest gains but were expected to remain in the minority, a position they have occupied since Republicans swept to power in 2010 on a wave of Tea Party fervour. Many of the most contested races early in the evening were in Florida.
In their first major victory of the evening, Democrats toppled Rep John L Mica, a Florida Republican who had cruised to re-election since coming to Congress in 1993. Mr Mica was defeated by Stephanie Murphy, a business professor and former national security specialist. Mr Murphy was able to take advantage of a district that had also been redrawn.
Another Democratic gain came in a Central Florida district that had been redrawn under orders from the state Supreme Court and had been vacated by the Republican incumbent. Val Demings was the winner there.
In another Florida race, Rep Carlos Curbelo, a Republican who had been outspoken against Mr Trump throughout his race, held his seat after jumping to an early lead in a re-election battle that pitted him against Joe Garcia, whom Mr Curbelo defeated two years ago, despite Democrats having spent more than $2 million to try to reclaim the hotly contested seat.
There was no doubt that Democrats would pick up seats this year, chipping away at the Republicans’ 247-member majority, their largest since the 1930s. But the possibility that Democrats could gain at least 30 seats and retake the majority was always considered far-fetched.
What remains unclear is how many seats they will collect. Nonpartisan estimates anticipated five to 20 for Democrats from about two dozen seats considered up for grabs – most of them held by Republicans. “There was always going to be some erosion,” Rep Charlie Dent, said in a recent interview. “The question was how much.”
New York Times