Washington (AFP) - Republicans were inching towards a slim majority in the US House of Representatives on Wednesday but the Senate may have eluded their grasp in midterm elections as Democrats fended off a “red wave.”

President Joe Biden’s Democrats outperformed expectations, and it was an underwhelming night for Donald Trump, who was counting on a big Republican showing to boost another White House run.

“While in certain ways yesterday’s election was somewhat disappointing, from my personal standpoint it was a very big victory – 219 WINS and 16 Losses,” Trump said in a reference to candidates he personally endorsed.

“Who has ever done better than that?” the 76-year-old former president said on his Truth Social platform.

In addition to seeing several of his high-profile candidates lose, Trump also saw his main rival for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, Ron DeSantis, notch up a thumping victory to remain governor of Florida.

Republicans appear to be on track to reclaim the 435-member House for the first time since 2018, but by a mere handful of seats.

Top Republican Kevin McCarthy put on a brave face after the party fell well short of picking up the 60 House seats he had once predicted.

“It is clear that we are going to take the House back,” said McCarthy, who hopes to be the lower chamber’s next speaker.

With three key races yet to be called after Tuesday’s vote, the Senate remained in play but it was leaning Democratic and control may hinge on a runoff election in the southern state of Georgia in December.

While the night saw wins by more than 100 Republicans embracing Trump’s “Big Lie” that Biden stole the 2020 election, several hand-picked acolytes of the former president came up short.

“Many of the candidates he endorsed underperformed and cost their party a chance at picking up seats that should have been winnable,” said Jon Rogowski, a political science professor at the University of Chicago.

“Not only did voters reject many of Trump’s candidates, but they also rejected his policies,” Rogowski said, citing abortion as an example.

In ballot initiatives in five states, voters supported abortion rights in a rejection of the conservative-dominated Supreme Court’s ruling in June that overturned a constitutional right to the procedure.

- ‘Definitely not a Republican wave’ -

Aiming to deliver a rebuke to Biden against a backdrop of sky-high inflation and bitter culture wars, Republicans needed just one extra seat to wrest control of the evenly divided Senate.

But by Wednesday the only seat to change hands went to the Democrats, with John Fetterman, a champion of progressive economic policies, triumphing in Pennsylvania over Trump-endorsed celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally, bluntly conceded to NBC that the election is “definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure.”

“Never underestimate how much Team Biden is underestimated,” White House chief of staff Ronald Klain tweeted.

A Republican-held House could still derail Biden’s agenda, launching investigations, scuttling his ambitions on climate change and scrutinizing the billions of US dollars to help Ukraine fight Russia.

The president’s party has traditionally lost seats in midterm elections, and with Biden’s ratings stuck in the low 40s and Republicans pounding him over inflation and crime, pundits had predicted a drubbing.

That would have raised tough questions on whether America’s oldest-ever commander in chief, who turns 80 this month, should run again.

Instead Biden stands to emerge in much better shape than either of his Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, who both took a hammering at the midterms.

- DeSantis romps to victory -

Democrats need two more wins to hold the Senate. Republicans need two to flip it.

Wisconsin’s incumbent Republican Senator Ron Johnson was declared the winner on Wednesday, but counting the remaining votes in Senate races in Arizona and Nevada could take days.

Georgia is to hold a runoff on December 6 after neither candidate crossed the 50 percent threshold needed for victory in the Senate race there.

On a night of close contests, one of the most decisive wins was for Florida’s DeSantis, who has railed against Covid-19 mitigation measures and transgender rights and emerged as the main 2024 party rival to Trump.

“I have only begun to fight,” the 44-year-old DeSantis told a noisy victory party.

Trump, who faces criminal probes over taking top secret documents from the White House and trying to overturn the 2020 election, has not yet formally entered the 2024 presidential fray but has announced plans to make a major announcement on November 15.

Ahead of polling day, Biden had warned that Republicans pose a dire threat to democracy, calling out their growing embrace of voter conspiracy theories that fueled last year’s storming of the Capitol.