US: Partisan warfare looms post-poll

Washington: A defiant President Donald Trump on Wednesday shrugged off the loss of the House of Representatives as Washington braced for the prospects of partisan warfare after US voters delivered a split verdict in a hard-fought midterm election.

With Democrats promising aggressive probes of Trump’s administration and his personal finances after winning the House, the president went on the offensive.

“If the Democrats think they are going to waste Taxpayer Money investigating us at the House level, then we will likewise be forced to consider investigating them for all of the leaks of Classified information, and much else, at the Senate level,” Trump said on Twitter.

“Two can play that game!” Trump also lashed out at the ongoing investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller into whether his 2016 election campaign colluded with Russia to help him win the White House, branding it a “disgusting Witch Hunt.”

Democrats won the House on Tuesday but Republicans increased their majority in the Senate in an election which revealed a country still sharply divided along party lines.

According to projections by The New York Times, Democrats will have 229 seats in the 435-member House while Republicans will hold 53 seats in the 100-member Senate, up from 51.

Republicans defeated Democratic senators in several states won by Trump in 2016 -- Florida, Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota.

Republican senate candidates were also leading in Arizona and Montana. Democrats appear to have won a Republican senate seat in Nevada.

Democrats also picked up seven governorships but fell short in a high-profile race for the governor's mansion in Florida, expected to play a key role in the 2020 presidential election.