Control of Congress hangs in balance as US vote count drags

Control of the US Congress continued to hang in the balance as ballot counting dragged on and attention shifted to the next big election — the 2024 presidential campaign — and whether Americans could be faced with a Joe Biden-Donald Trump rematch.

With 209 seats so far, Republicans appear poised to secure a slim majority in the 435-seat House of Representatives, but control of the Senate may come down to an early December run-off in the southern state of Georgia.

Biden, who turns 80 this month, on Wednesday celebrated what he said was the success of his Democratic Party in fending off a predicted Republican landslide in a stormy economic climate.

Biden, already America's oldest president, insisted that he plans to run for a second term in November 2024 despite calls by some members of the party for him to step aside and hand the reins over to a new generation of leaders. He promised a final decision "early next year."

A drubbing would have surely raised questions about whether Biden should run again in 2024. But instead, he did better than his two Democratic predecessors, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, who both took a hammering in their first midterms.

The 76-year-old Trump promised a "very big announcement" in Florida on Tuesday that was expected to be the launch of his official campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Trump's early entry into the race would appear designed to fend off possible criminal charges over taking top secret documents from the White House, his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the January 6 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters.

It may also be intended to undercut his chief potential rival for the Republican presidential nomination, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who emerged as one of the biggest winners from Tuesday's midterms.

READ MORE: Strategists see midterm results boosting Biden's 2024 hopes

'Ron De-Sanctimonious'

The 44-year-old DeSantis, a Harvard- and Yale-educated lawyer, notched up a nearly 20-point victory over his Democratic opponent in the Florida governor's race and took credit for a host of Republican victories in other races in the "Sunshine State."

"We not only won election, we have rewritten the political map," DeSantis said. "We've got so much more to do and I have only begun to fight."

While DeSantis has emerged as Trump's main rival for the nomination, the former president continues to dominate in the polls when Republicans are asked who they want to represent the party in the 2024 White House race.

Trump clearly has the Florida governor, a one-time ally, in his sights, referring to him by a derogatory nickname — Ron De-Sanctimonious — and belittling his election victory.

"Shouldn't it be said that in 2020, I got 1.1 Million more votes in Florida than Ron D got this year, 5.7 Million to 4.6 Million?" Trump said on his Truth Social platform. "Just asking?"

Biden was asked by reporters on Wednesday about a Trump-DeSantis showdown.

"It'll be fun watching them take on each other," he said.

READ MORE: US midterm polls: Republicans take lead in House, Senate neck-to-neck