Republicans take control of U.S. Congress

The Republicans have won the six Senate seats needed to wrest the majority from the Democrats and to maintain majority in the lower House, achieving total control of Congress, according to initial projections of results after the U.S. elections.

North Carolina, Arkansas, South Dakota, Montana, West Virginia and Colorado were the Democratic seats that went to the Republicans in Tuesday’s vote, leading the way for the conservatives to take full control of Congress in the last two years of President Barak Obama’s second and last term of office.

It will be the first time since 2006 that Republicans have control of both houses, which portends a difficult end to Obama’s mandate.

Obama spoke Tuesday with the candidates of the lower House, the Senate and the governors of both parties, said his spokesperson, Josh Earnest, in his Twitter account.

Veteran congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito beat Democrat Natalie Tennant in West Virginia, where she managed the first Republican win of the day, according to the projections of the major U.S. networks.

The Republican candidate Mike Rounds defeated Democrat Rick Weiland in South Dakota and in Montana, Republican Steve Daines defeated Democrat Amanda Curtis.

The first victories were those of Republican senators from Kentucky and South Carolina, Mitch McConnell (Senate minority leader) and Lindsay Graham, respectively, who achieved their reelection to the Senate.

With these results, McConnell has achieved his dream of becoming the next leader of the Republican majority in the Senate.

In a speech to applauding supporters following his victory, McConnell said the task now was to turn the country around.

The current Democratic majority leader, Harry Reid, congratulated McConnell in a Twitter message, saying that the voters had made it clear they wanted the two parties to work together and that he was ready to do so.

According to the exit poll surveys reported by different media, eight out of ten Americans who voted were dissatisfied with the current Congress’ work, and disapproved of Obama.

Republicans also retained their Senate seats in two of the tightest races: Georgia, where David Perdue replaced Senator Saxby Chambliss of his party and defeated Democrat Michelle Nunn, and Kansas.

They also garnered victories in states like Iowa, a Democratic stronghold, where the Republican Joni Ernst defeated Bruce Braley and became the first woman to represent the state in Congress.

The Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner, promised a new era of solutions through the control achieved by his party in both houses of Congress, and urged Obama to cooperate with the strengthened opposition and not fight back.

Meanwhile, Democrats held some enclaves such as New Hampshire and garnered victories in state governorships in Pennsylvania, where they beat the Republicans, and retained the governorship of New Hampshire and New York.