If you're just joining us now, here's a quick look at what's taken place over the past few hours.

Nada Tawfik
Reporting from Florida

Image source, Reuters

The word "historic" is being used to describe Republican gains in Florida, a state where races are often decided by a few points.

Just four years ago, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won by less than half a percentage point.

The huge margin of his victory tonight will further fuel talk of him as a contender for the White House in 2024. He made gains with nearly every demographic group, including women and Latinos - a group he lost by 10 points in 2018.

His victory speech sure sounded like a play for the presidency. He declared that Florida had rewritten the political map and that he’d only begun to fight.

Republicans in Florida disagree about whether DeSantis would take on Donald Trump in a Republican primary. As one GOP (Republican Party) official here told me, going up against a juggernaut like Trump would be a very different race, and DeSantis has never faced that type of opposition.

Former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh predicts former President Donald Trump may be blamed if the Democrats keep control of the Senate - but Republicans are unlikely to admit this in public.

Speaking about how Republicans may react to President Biden and what he describes as the Democrats' "big victory" in the midterms, he tells the BBC World Service's Newsday programme:

"Privately, they'll do what they've done the last six years because they're all cowards - privately they'll all blame Trump.

"But none of them will say that publicly - they'll blame anybody publicly but Trump and once again hope that Trump just goes away."

In what he sees as a good night for the Democrats, he adds: "It looks like the Democrats are going to keep control of the Senate, and maybe only lose a handful of seats in the House.

"This is a big victory," he says, "even though they're probably going to lose control of the House."

Image source, Reuters

As well as voting on their House representatives and governor, voters in Michigan had to vote in a referendum on enshrining abortion in the state constitution.

Along with voters in California and Vermont, they approved the measure, meaning women will be able to choose to have an abortion within the borders of those three states.

The vote comes amid increasing pressures from anti-abortion lawmakers after the Supreme Court overturned the Roe vs Wade decision that legalised abortion nationwide.

The electorate in Michigan passed a constitutional amendment known as Proposal 3 by more than 55% after 82% of the votes were counted.

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The high-stakes battle over abortion in the US is also unfolding in Kentucky, where voters will decide whether the state constitution should remove all protection for abortion rights.

Now 13 states ban abortion in most cases, others severely restrict access.

Across the country, one in four voters said abortion was their top issue when deciding how to vote, according to a Reuters exit poll.

• Why Kentucky might deliver a shock abortion vote

Image source, Getty Images

"We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future."

This is what a win sounds like for Democrat Maxwell Frost, who - at 25 - is the US Congress's first representative of Generation Z.

Within minutes of the projected win, his celebration on Twitter was gathering rampant endorsement.

Most representatives in Congress are older. Baby boomers dominate and millennials represent barely 6% of the body.

"I am more than thankful for the opportunity to represent my home, external in the United States Congress," Frost wrote.

His win was not unexpected - after all, he ran in Florida's reliably liberal 10th district.

And his campaign focused on the issues Democrats believe appeal to young voters - gun violence, climate change, abortion rights and expanded healthcare.

Read more here.

Sam Cabral
Reporting from Washington

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With Democrats flipping the Republican-held Senate seat in Pennsylvania, they are now holding their breath over two seats they have a tenuous grasp on - in Georgia and Nevada.

In Nevada, more votes are left to be counted. Democratic Senator Catherine Cortez Masto - who is running against Republican Adam Laxalt - has expressed confidence but says results will "take time".

"We know this will take time and we won't have more election results for several days," a statement from her campaign a short while ago reads.

"We're not done yet. Let's keep the positive energy flowing."

If Cortez Masto clings on, it will likely mean the Senate remains in Democratic hands. She is currently behind, but many votes remain uncounted.

Mixed-bag kind of electionpublished at 09:18 Greenwich Mean Time 9 November 2022

09:18 GMT 9 November 2022

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent in Washington

This has been a strange kind of midterm election. Democrats are claiming victory even though they appear poised to lose control of the House of Representatives. Republicans are engaging in the kind of circular firing squads usually reserved for the defeated party.

It’s all about expectations. Republicans - looking at midterm history, Joe Biden’s negative approval ratings and a US economy that was struggling - expected to ride a wave to sweeping congressional victories.

Democrats, after watching their last two presidents get drubbed in their first midterm elections, were assuming the worst.

Instead, it’s a decidedly mixed bag. Republicans have to be thrilled with their party’s performance in Florida, where Ron DeSantis won re-election and they picked up three House seats. And while they didn’t pull off an upset in New York’s governor race, they are looking good in several House races in that traditional left-leaning state.

But Democrats, for their part, can be buoyed by the toss-up House races they’re winning across the country. And they’re thrilled by victories in Pennsylvania in particular, not only for the Senate and governor, but also in the state legislature.

It will be days before the dust fully settles, but a lot of hopes - and expectations - have been shattered already.

The top line is that which party will control the US Congress for the next two years remains uncertain.

The Republicans, as predicted, look to be in a good position to retake the House but the battle for the Senate is too close to call. The parties are neck and neck.

Although the Republicans have made gains, the party didn’t see the upset victories in Senate and governor battles which polls had suggested could happen.

In fact in many of the key races, the early front-runners have held on:

• In Pennsylvania, Democrat John Fetterman outperformed polls to win the Senate race against Oz Mehmet, the Republican candidate and former Oprah Winfrey Show celebrity doctor
• The Georgia race is still a nail-biter between Democrat senator Raphael Warnock and his Trump-backed challenger Herschel Walker. Officials say there will most likely be another vote in four weeks to decide the contest
• But Republican Brian Kemp prevailed to retain the state governor position over high-profile challenger Stacey Abrams
• The Senate race in Nevada remains too close to call. Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto - the first Latino senator - is trailing her Republican rival Adam Laxalt by fewer than 1,000 votes
• We're also expecting Senate results in Arizona, where the Democrat is ahead in the current tally
• Meanwhile the Republicans look close to obtaining the five-seat gain needed to swing the House
• Kevin McCarthy, the minority leader, addressed his supporters at 2am saying they would wake up tomorrow to a Republican House majority
• Exit polls showed the economy and cost-of-living were the biggest concerns for voters, as expected, but abortion rights were also a major issue

As results continue to come in, Republicans currently have the most seats in the House of Representatives.

They have 198 seats - while the Democrats have 173.

But the Republicans still need 22 seats to ensure control of the House - and they say they're confident they can achieve that.

US Congress is made up of the House and the Senate. The House is a bit like the UK's House of Commons, while the Senate is like the House of Lords, although its members are elected.

Samantha Granville
Reporting from Arizona

Arizona Democrats have been dancing their way to the finish line in the early hours of the morning.

The nervous energy that started off the evening was channelled into a conga line weaving around the ballroom of this watch party.

Loud cheers erupted when party attendees found out that senate candidate Mark Kelly and gubernatorial candidate Katie Hobbs were leaning towards victory in this crucial state.

All of the major races in Arizona were virtual toss-ups heading into this election night, but the cautious optimism that started the evening has evolved into pure excitement as the hours have passed.

Partygoers have been watching a live stream of CNN on two massive screens in the ballroom here, refreshing Twitter on their phones, and searching for every possible tabulation update.

It’s still early in the night but Arizona democrats believe they convinced voters up and down the ballot to choose “sanity over chaos.”

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent in Washington

Donald Trump may not have been on the ballot during these midterm elections, but he still cast a shadow over them.

Earlier in the evening, the former president made a brief speech from his Mar-a-Lago home and claimed an overwhelming victory for his endorsed candidates.

The truth, however, is more complicated.

In the highest profile contests where he backed candidates over more mainstream Republican options, his picks have struggled.

Mehmet Oz lost his Senate race in Pennsylvania. Herschel Walker appears headed for a run-off in Georgia. Blake Masters is trailing in Arizona. Only JD Vance in Ohio pulled out a clear win, albeit by a more narrow margin than the trending-conservative state would suggest.

Republicans are going to be second-guessing his political instincts after Tuesday night. And if he does launch a new bid for the presidency next week, he will be on the back foot.

Image source, .

Senior election officials in Georgia are now saying there will almost certainly be a run-off race for the Senate seat in early December.

That's because under the state's law, if no candidate gets more than 50% of the vote, it triggers a run-off between the top two candidates.

Former American Football star Herschel Walker, who's received the backing of Donald Trump, is battling incumbent Raphael Warnock, who preaches at Martin Luther King Jr's former church in Atlanta.

Georgia is a key seat that could be pivotal for either the Democrats or Republicans to control the Senate.

Election official Gabriel Sterling has tweeted that while "detailed work on counting votes" is continuing "we feel it is safe to say there will be a runoff for the US Senate".

If you're just waking up in the UK and catching up - it's been a frenetic night with results coming in from all over the US in these midterm elections.

But at this stage we still don't know which party will control Congress once all the results are counted.

Republicans are well-placed to win control of the House of Representatives, while the Senate remains too close to call.

Here are the key takeaways so far.

Little sign of "red tidal wave": Some Republicans had predicted a big night for the party, but Democrats have fended off fierce challenges in closely watched races and performed better than many analysts had predicted.

Abortion a key issue: The first batch of exit polls showed the economy was a major consideration for voters. But it also showed that for 3 in 10 of them, abortion was the most important issue. Experts suggest this is likely to have benefited Democrats as they poll as the most trusted party on abortion rights.

DeSantis won big: It's not surprising that Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis won re-election - but the scale of his victory exceeded almost all predictions. He won by nearly 20 points and also won a clear majority of the Latino vote. That's a major boost for a man who is said to be considering a 2024 presidential nomination bid.

A mixed night for Trump: On the subject of 2024, Donald Trump endorsed hundreds of candidates ahead of the midterms and their performance was always going to be viewed as a measure of his appeal ahead of a potential presidential run. But as things stand, his backed candidates have had a mixed night. Most of his high-profile picks have struggled.

Kayla Epstein
Reporting from Georgia

Image source, Reuters

Georgia political watchers are abuzz with talk of “split-ticket” voters – people who voted for a Republican, Brian Kemp, in the governor’s race, but crossed the aisle to vote for Sen. Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, in the US Senate race.

I met quite a few Republican voters who knew they would vote for Kemp, but hesitated to punch a ballot for the party’s US Senate nominee, former American Football star Herschel Walker, due to negative reports about his personal life.

One voter who was on the fence was Yeni Tran, 42, of Clark County. She was a staunch supporter of the Republican Kemp. But of Walker, she said, “I’m torn. I heard some of his speeches, and it’s not the most intellectual.”

Jennifer Almond, 48, also supported Kemp but was put off by allegations from Walker’s ex-wife that he’d once threatened her with a gun. "I had heard briefly about the stuff going on with his ex-wife," she said. "And that kind of bothers me."

It's very late here in the US now - and with most of the night's Senate races called, the outcome remains on a knife-edge. Democrats have 48 seats and Republicans currently hold 47.

If Republicans were to wrest back control of the Senate from the Democrats they would be able to stymie Joe Biden's legislative plans for his next two years in office.

The fight for the Senate looks to be coming down to four of the closest contests this year:

• In Georgia, the race between Republican Herschel Walker and Democrat Raphael Warnock is too close to call
• If Democrats lose there, they would need to hold both Nevada and Arizona to keep control of the Senate
• Nevada is currently a toss-up between incumbent Democrat Catherine Cortez Masto and her Republican challenger Adam Laxalt
• In Arizona, the race between Democrat Mark Kelly and Republican Blake Masters is also too close to call

• If the Democrats lose either Nevada or Arizona, they would need to flip Wisconsin, where Democrat Mandela Barnes is up against Republican Ron Johnson

Representative Kevin McCarthy, who was backed by former US President Donald Trump for speaker, has given a statement to say that Republicans will take control of the House of Representatives.

His party, he said, would "get America back on track".

"Let me tell you, you're out late, but when you wake up tomorrow, we will be in the majority and Nancy Pelosi will be in the minority."

The vote for speaker is an internal process and only House members cast a vote. The current speaker of the House is Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

As we've been reporting, Republicans are looking likely to take control of the House but final results are not yet in.

The race for the US Senate is going right down to the wire.

At present, Democrats hold 48 seats - while Republicans have 47 with five races left to be called.

Image source, .

Image source, Getty Images

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is feeling cautiously optimistic.

"While many races remain too close to call, it is clear that House Democratic Members and candidates are strongly outperforming expectations across the country," she says.

She calls for every vote to be counted and thanks volunteers for "enabling every voter to have their say".

Pelosi was re-elected to Congress tonight for a 19th consecutive term. But a violent assault on her husband Paul at their California home less than a fortnight ago has raised questions about the top Democrat's future.

If Republicans take control of the House of Representatives in these elections, as is predicted, Pelosi will lose her position as speaker.

Image source, .

Democrat Gretchen Whitmer is projected to win re-election as the governor of Michigan, beating Republican challenger Tudor Dixon.

Whitmer, who faced an assassination attempt in her first term, was favoured to win. She warned voters that Dixon held "extreme" positions on abortion restrictions and gun rights.