Democrat Janet Mills wins Maine governor's seat

Democrats have regained control of the Maine governor's office with a victory in an open-seat election by Democratic Attorney General Janet Mills.

Mills defeated Republican businessman Shawn Moody and independent state Treasurer Terry Hayes in Tuesday's gubernatorial race.

She will succeed Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who was term-limited after eight years in office.

Democrats also flipped control of governor's offices in Illinois, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico.Heading into Tuesday's election, Republicans held control of 33 governor's offices.

The Latest on elections to the US House of Representatives (AP)

Women will break the current record of 84 serving at once in the US House.

With ballots still being counted across the country, women have won 75 seats and are assured of victory in nine districts where women are the only major-party candidates.

Outrage and organising by women have defined Democratic Party politics this election cycle — from the Women's March opposing President Donald Trump the day after he was inaugurated in January 2017 through a stream of sexual assault accusations later that year that sparked the #MeToo movement.

More than 230 women, many of them first-time candidates, were on the general-election ballots in House races.Despite the gains, men will continue to hold the vast majority of House seats.

Trump frames midterms as 'tremendous success'

 Staring down the potential loss of one-party control in Washington, President Donald Trump declared Tuesday's election results a "tremendous success" for Republicans as his party maintained its hold on the Senate while Democrats picked up GOP-held seats in the House.

Nearly 40% of voters cast their ballots to express opposition to the president, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of the electorate, while about 25% said they voted to express support for Trump.

Opposition to Trump proved to be more a motivating factor for Democrats than support for the president a factor for Republicans. Still, Republican voters tended to be overwhelmingly supportive of the president.

But while Trump's plays to his most loyal supporters helped rev up the crowds in small towns and rural areas in red states, they were viewed as a turnoff to moderates, independents and women in the suburban districts needed to keep the House in GOP hands.

Still, Trump brushed off criticism that he was alienating moderate voters as he continued his massive rallies and overheated rhetoric.

Dems gain in quest for House control but GOP retains Senate

AP: Democrats were gaining significant ground in the battle for House control on Tuesday night, while Republicans held their Senate majority as voters rendered a mixed verdict in the first nationwide election of Donald Trump's turbulent presidency.

The results allowed both parties to claim partial victory, but highlighted an extraordinary realignment of US voters by race, sex and education.

Republicans maintained their strength in conservative, rural states, while Democrats made inroads across America's suburbs.

With control of Congress, statehouses and the president's agenda at stake, some of the nation's top elections were too close to call.

Democrats win half the House seats they need

AP: Democrats have won half the seats they need to reclaim the House majority, while Republicans were picking up key Senate contests.

Democrats picked up at least 12 Republican-held House seats in early returns but fell short in a closely watched race in Kentucky as they fought to wrest control of the chamber after eight years of GOP rule.

Democrats needed a net gain of 23 seats to control the House and gain a check on President Donald Trump.

Democratic gains included several suburban districts eyed for turnover because they were won by Hillary Clinton, including seats outside Washington, Philadelphia, Miami and Denver.

Meanwhile, Republicans Mike Braun and Kevin Cramer won Democratic-held Senate seats in Indiana and North Dakota, ousting incumbents Joe Donnelly and Heidi Heitkamp.

GOP keeps Senate control for 2 more years, triumph for Trump

AP: Triumphant Republicans retained control of the Senate on Tuesday, ousting Democratic incumbents in Indiana and North Dakota and ensuring they will remain as guardians of President Donald Trump's conservative agenda for two more years.

Despite Trump's deeply polarising effect on voters, the GOP harnessed his rock-solid popularity with hard-right voters in rural, deep-red states. They held onto seats in the South, Midwest and West and ensured at least a 50-50 Senate — enough to give Republicans control because Vice President Mike Pence as president of the Senate would tip the balance to the GOP.

Republicans paved their path to victory by defeating Democrats Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. They also held on to competitive seats in Texas, where Sen. Ted Cruz fended off Rep. Beto O'Rourke, the well-financed liberal darling, and in Tennessee, where Rep. Marsha Blackburn prevailed.

Florida returns vote to 1.5 million ex-felons

AFP: Florida voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved an amendment to allow ex-felons who have served prison terms to vote, allowing another 1.5 million to take part in the 2020 presidential election.

Amendment 4 automatically restores voting rights to felons who have completed their sentences, paid restitution and fulfilled their parole or probation - except those convicted of murder or sex crimes.The measure passed with 64.4 percent support, officials said.

The old law disproportionately affected blacks and Latinos in particular.

Democrats seize US House in rebuke to Trump

AFP: Democrats seized control of the lower house of Congress in midterm elections on Tuesday, dealing a stern rebuke to Donald Trump almost two years into his polarising, rollercoaster presidency.

Fox and NBC television networks called the result in the US House of Representatives, while confirming expectations that Trump's Republicans will retain control of the Senate.

The result upends the balance of power in Washington, where Trump has enjoyed an easy ride from Republican dominance of both houses of Congress since his shock election in 2016.

Democrats will now be able to block legislation and light a fire under Trump's feet with investigations of his opaque finances and Russian interference in his 2016 election, and possibly push for impeachment.

The verdicts in the House and Senate were based on incomplete results as vote counting continued across the country and some states were still voting in a congressional election cast as an unofficial referendum on Trump.

Democrats retake US House, Republicans keep Senate: networks

(AFP) Control of Congress will be divided next year, as Democrats won back the House of Representatives but President Donald Trump's Republicans maintained their Senate majority in crucial midterms, networks projected on Tuesday.

Democrats will pick up the 23 seats necessary to win a House majority, Fox and NBC reported, as they knocked off Republicans in swing states like Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania and Colorado in elections seen as the first nationwide referendum on Trump's performance.

But Republicans struck back in the 100-member Senate, where they ousted at least two Democrats, in Indiana and North Dakota, and held on to at-risk seats in Tennessee and Texas.

WATCH: Hang on, what ARE the US 'mid-terms'?

From the seats up for election to some context on how the vote typically goes - here's what you need to know ahead of the US mid-terms.  

AFP: Democratic Congressman Jared Polis has won the governor's race in Colorado, US networks projected on Tuesday, making him the first openly gay person to be elected governor in the United States.

The five-term congressman, 43, who defeated Republican Walker Stapleton, was open about his sexual orientation during the campaign, often referring to it in his criticism of President Donald Trump.

AFP: US voters elected two Muslim women, both Democrats, to Congress on Tuesday, marking a historic first in a country where anti-Muslim rhetoric has been on the rise, American networks reported.

Ilhan Omar, a Somali refugee, won a House seat in a heavily-Democratic district in the Midwestern state of Minnesota, where she will succeed Keith Ellison, himself the first Muslim elected to Congress.

Rashida Tlaib, a social worker born in Detroit to Palestinian immigrant parents, won a House seat in a district where she ran unopposed by a Republican candidate.

US midterm elections for dummies: What you need to know

Every four years the United States (US) vote in the midterm elections. What are they? How does voting work? And what are the key issues?  

A decade after Obama's election, America is more divided than ever

Pieter du Toit attended former US president Barack Obama's victory speech in Chicago exactly a decade ago. As Americans vote in the midterm elections, much has changed from the high of that day in 2008.  

What's at stake on November 6 in US midterm elections

Americans head to the polls for midterm elections with US President Donald Trump's Republican party seeking to retain control of the House of Representatives and the Senate.

WATCH: Trumpism on the line as America heads to the polls

Millions of voters delivered their verdict that amounts to referendum on Donald Trump's presidency.