Republicans marched toward House control Tuesday night in midterm elections shadowed by recession, locking up enough Democratic seats to install a conservative majority certain to challenge President Barack Obama at virtually every turn.
Speaker-in-waiting John Boehner, his voice breaking with emotion, declared to fellow Republicans, "I'll never let you down."
But the Republicans fell short in their effort to gain control of the Senate and take full command of Congress. The GOP did gain seats in the Senate and also wrested at least seven governorships from Democrats.
Boehner and his Republicans needed to gain 40 seats for a majority, and had exactly that number in hand a few minutes before midnight in the East. They led for another 24.
The victories came in bunches — five Democratic-held seats each in Pennsylvania and Ohio and three in Florida and Virginia.
Among the House Democrats who tasted defeat was Rep. Tom Perriello, a first-termer for whom Obama campaigned just before the election.
Obama was at the White House as the returns mounted, a news conference on his Wednesday schedule.
Boehner choked back tears as he spoke to supporters in Washington.
"Across the country right now, we are witnessing a repudiation of Washington a repudiation of big government and a repudiation of politicians who refuse to listen to the people," he said.
In Senate races, tea party favorites Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida coasted to easy Senate victories, overcoming months of withering Democratic attacks on their conservative views. But Christine O'Donnell lost badly in Delaware, for a seat that Republican strategists once calculated would be theirs with ease.