Republicans, Democrats notch narrow wins

Washington: Control of Congress hung in the balance early on Tuesday, with both parties notching victories in some of the most competitive races in a midterm election that centred on voter frustration over high inflation and the sudden rollback of abortion rights.

Democrats held a crucial Senate seat in New Hampshire, where Democratic Sen. Sen. Maggie Hassan defeated Republican Don Bolduc, a retired Army general who had initially promoted former President Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election but tried to shift away from some of the more extreme positions he took during the GOP primary. Republicans held Senate seats in Ohio and North Carolina.

A district-by-district fight was underway for control of the House, where Democrats held closely watched seats in moderate suburban districts from Virginia to Kansas and Rhode Island. Rep. Elaine Luria, a Navy veteran who serves on the House committee investigating the January 6 insurrection, was the first Democratic incumbent to lose a highly competitive House district.

Many of the districts that could determine House control in states like New York and California had not been called.

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 GOP 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 energise their voters to buck historical trends.