US midterm elections: Tight race for House expected as counting begins

US voting midterm A mother holding her child votes in Missouri | AFP

Counting of votes in the US midterm elections, considered a referendum on the performance of President Donald Trump, began early on Wednesday morning (IST). Voting was held for all 435 seats of the House of Representatives, 35 seats of the 100 Senate and also for the post of governor in 36 states on Tuesday.

Early results and trends showed a very tight race for the House of Representatives, which was earlier predicted to go for the Democratic Party decisively. Most analysts continue to predict the Democrats will retake the house by a slim margin; Fox News has called the House for the Democrats.

Early counting trends from the New York Times showed the Republicans ahead in the popular vote share by 22,663,771 votes (49.4% votes) and leading in 99 seats against 22,588,913 votes (49.3%) for the Democrats, who were leading in 85 seats, though polls are only closing in states like California. The half-way mark for the majority in the House is 218 seats.

In the Senate, analysts are claiming the chances of a Democrat majority have faded significantly as the Republicans keep a lead in key races to lead by 47 seats to 38 seats in early counting.

In governor races, Andrew Cuomo won his third term as Governor of New York, fuelling speculation that he could attempt to bid for the Democrat Party's presidential nomination in 2020. In Colorado, Democrat Congressman Jared Polis became the first openly gay person to be elected governor anywhere in the US.