What you need to know about the US midterm elections

The Republicans have won control of the Senate in America's midterm elections and expanded their majority in the House of Representatives.

The results

The final tallies remain unclear with some counts ongoing but the Republicans have won at least seven seats in the Senate - more than enough to gain control of America's upper house.

Republicans took Senate seats from Democrats in states where it was thought Obama's party had some hope of victory such as Colorado, North Carolina, Iowa and Arkansas.

Voters in the elections were also choosing candidates for seats in the House of Representatives and state-wide offices including governorships.

In the House of Representatives, Republicans built on their majority of 233 seats out of the 435 to 243 so far. If current projections are correct they will win their largest majority in the House since 1928, when the party had 246 seats.

As Louise Mensch put it:

As for gubernatorial races, Republicans in Maryland, Arkansas, Illinois and Massachusetts took control of offices previously held by Democrats. In Pennsylvania, Democrat challenger Tom Wolf defeated the incumbent Tom Corbett. In Florida, Republican Rick Scott retained his seat - despite this strange incident with a fan at a debate last month.

What does Obama have to say about all this?

Obama had largely stayed away from the campaign trail due to his personal unpopularity. This morning the New York Times reports Obama feels irritated but not "repudiated" by the results.

"He’s going to be aggressive. He’s ready to go," a senior official said. "We’ve got a lot of important stuff to get done in the lame duck. He’ll talk about that tomorrow. We’ve got a lot of important stuff to get done in the last two years. He’s anxious to get going on that."

It's not just about Obama, thoguh

Voters in Washington DC, America's capital, and Oregon voted in favour of measures to legalise marijuana for recreational use on their midterm ballots, and Alaska looks set to follow suit. Meanwhile South Dakota, Arkansas and Nebraska all approved measures to raise the minimum wage and North Dakota and Colorado rejected anti-choice measures on their ballot papers.

Best name

Introducing Butch Otter, Idaho's re-elected Republican governor with 54.5 per cent of the vote. Almost as good as Lady Garden.

Second best name

A George P Bush was elected as Texas's land commissioner - which CBS describes as a "little known but powerful post that could eventually lead to higher officers". The 38-year-old is the grandson of George HW Bush and nephew of George W Bush.

Saddest loss

Here's Republican Scott Brown making a joke about his daughter Ayla's weight, saying of the former basketball player "I could probably beat her now, she's gotten a little soft" and patting her stomach. He lost his bid for a Senate seat in New Hampshire.

Worst quotes

Republican Lindsey Graham made a strong effort with this:

We won this election because we asked Coloradans to lift their eyes to that great Rocky Mountain horizon.

Worst meme

As tweeted by Louise Mensch

Worst celebrity endorsement

We're in no way suggested the Democrats' performance was Kim Kardashian's fault.

Or Kanye West's fault

What happens next:

The Independent'sUS editor David Usborne reports:

The thumping taken by Democrats will very likely create pressure on Hillary Clinton to stop deliberating about whether or not to seek the presidency in 2016 and declare her intention to do so – if that is indeed the case – on an accelerated schedule. It is possible that not only she but also several Republican presidential aspirants will declare in the coming weeks, thus firing the starting pistol on the 2016 race.

More: US governor accidentally tweets unsuspecting voter's backside