United States President Joe Biden has hailed the midterm elections as good for democracy after the Democrats' better-than-expected performance, also revealing when he would decide whether to contest the 2024 United States presidential election.
Republicans made modest gains in the elections and are likely to take control of the House of Representatives, but control of the Senate hinges on three races that remained too close to call late on Wednesday. A so-called "red wave" or large Republican takeover did not occur.
"It was a good day, I think, for democracy," Mr Biden told reporters at the White House.
He acknowledged that the results showed Americans were frustrated, with inflation being a big topic for voters.
Supporters of Pennsylvania Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman, who beat republican candidate Mehmet Oz. Source: Getty, AFP / Angela Weiss
The US president, a Democrat who turns 80 this month, has faced questions on whether he will seek a second term.
"Our intention is to run again, that's been our intention," Mr Biden told reporters at the White House. "This is ultimately a family decision."
He said his family wanted him to run and he did not feel rushed to make a final decision. He said he would do so unrelated to any announcement from his 2020 rival, Republican former President Donald Trump, who is expected to run as well.
Mr Biden has spent his first two years in office warning against threats to democracy after Mr Trump's supporters stormed the US Capitol on 6 January 2021, and did not accept Mr Biden's legitimate victory.
He underscored those arguments in the final days of the midterm elections.
Joe Biden prepared to work with Republicans if they win the House
White House officials have expressed a sense of vindication that Democrats did better than expected after Mr Biden focused his campaign pitch largely on preventing threats to US democracy, securing abortion rights and extolling his economic policies.
Republicans are expected to try to undo some of those policies and prevent him from achieving further goals.
Mr Biden said he was prepared to work with Republicans.
Guests cheer for House Minority Leader, Republican Kevin McCarthy, during an election night party at The Westin Washington hotel in Washington, D.C. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Imag
Mr Biden said he would veto efforts to pass a national ban on abortion and opposed tax cuts for the wealthy — two policy proposals Republicans may pursue.
He said when he returns from a trip to Asia he would invite Democratic and Republican leaders to the White House to discuss priorities going forward.
The White House has prepared for a host of investigations that may come from a Republican-controlled House, including over his son Hunter's business dealings. Mr Biden said the American people would look at such probes for what he said they were - "almost comedy" - but said he could not control what they did.
Control of the Senate on a knife's edge
The Senate contests in Nevada and Arizona, where Democratic incumbents were seeking to hold off Republican challengers, were not yet called on Wednesday, with thousands of ballots still to be counted.
If the parties split those races, the Senate's fate would come down to a Georgia runoff election for the second time in two years, after Edison Research projected neither Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock nor Republican Herschel Walker would reach the 50 per cent necessary to avoid a 6 December one-on-one rematch.
Republicans picked up at least 10 seats in the US House of Representatives, Edison Research projected. That would be three more than needed to wrest control of the chamber from Democrats, though with 42 races uncalled, Democrats still have a small chance of holding the majority.
Former US president Donald Trump, who took an active role in recruiting Republican candidates for Congress, had mixed results. Source: Getty / The Washington Post
Poor performances by some candidates backed by Donald Trump — including Walker — indicated exhaustion with the kind of chaos instigated by the former Republican president, raising questions about the viability of his possible run for the White House in 2024.
"I think his ego is just too big to handle," said Yvonne Langdon, 75, as she cast her ballot for Republican candidates in Michigan on Tuesday.
A number of election deniers who backed Mr Trump's claims were elected to office on Tuesday, but many of those who sought positions to oversee elections at the state level were defeated.
Fears of violence or disruption by far-right poll watchers at voting stations did not materialise. Jen Easterly, head of the US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said she saw no evidence any voting system was compromised.
