US polls close; Rubio, DeSantis among early projected winners

Washington, Nov 9 US voters have spoken. But it will be a while before it is fully known what they said.

At stake is control of the US Congress all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, 35 of the 100 in the US Senate and 36 governorships. Republicans are widely expected to wrest control of the House from Democrats the party in control of the White House is historically known to lose the first midterm election in the incumbent President's first term.

Republican Senators Marco Rubio, Rand Paul and James Lankford are winning according to projections, as is Ran DeSantis, the Governor of Florida who is widely expected to run for the White House in 2024, which is also being eyed by former President Donald Trump, who has said an announcement is coming this Tuesday.

But the critical races that could determine the outcome of the race for control of the House and the Senate remain open or too close to call. Senate races in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Ohio, for instance, were too close to call as polls were closing around the US across three time zones.

Counting in some constituencies could typically take days, especially in the ones with close races. But broad outlines will begin to emerge in a few hours based on projections by media outfits, which are fairly accurate.

President Joe Biden is not on the ballot but midterm elections are a referendum on the sitting President and he is likely to be hit hard, mostly on account of an obstinate inflation that has dogged his presidency for months now. But an adverse midterm outcome does not necessarily diminish re-election chances Democrats lost 54 seats in 1984 but Bill Clinton was re-elected, and the party lost 63 in 2010, but Barack Obama was re-elected two years later in 2012.