Republicans win Senate control

23-yr-old Indian-American Niraj Antani is one of the youngest US lawmakers

• Republicans now have a majority in both houses of the Congress
• Last time Republicans controlled both houses was during Clinton's rule

Indian Americans who won

• Nikki Haley
• Kamala Harris
• Janak Joshi
• Niraj Antani
• Prasad Srinivasan
• Sam Singh
• Kumar Bharve
• Aruna Miller
• Pramila Jayapal

Washington: Riding a wave of discontent against Democrats, resurgent Republicans on Wednesday gained control of the US Senate for the first time in eight years and increased their majority in the House of Representatives, as President Barack Obama was relegated to lame duck status.

Republicans needed six seats to win control of the 100-member Senate. By early Wednesday, Republican candidates had picked up seven Democratic seats: Arkansas, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota and West Virginia and gain their first Senate majority since 2006

Democrats had dominated Republicans in the Senate, 53-45 with two independents, going into the election but Republicans will now outnumber them 52-45 with two independents. Louisiana's U.S. Senate race will be decided in a Dec. 6 runoff. NBC News projected they would hold at least 244 seats and as many as 249 seats.

When the new Congress is sworn in in January, it will mark the first time the Republicans have held both chambers since 2006. They will now have the power to complicate, if not block completely, Obama's agenda in the last two years of his tenure in the White House. Control of the Senate will also enable the Republicans to stymie his ability to name new federal judges, cabinet members and senior government officials.

The last time Republicans controlled both houses of Congress under a Democratic president was 1995-97 during Bill Clinton's administration. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a shrewd Republican tactician, cruised to re-election and stood poised to achieve a goal he has pursued for years.

Several Indian-Americans, who were in the fray this year for the crucial US elections, managed to win their respective seats with South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and California Attorney General Kamala Harris leading the list by getting elected for a second consecutive time.

In Colorado, Republican Janak Joshi won from the House 16 District. Republican Niraj Antani, 23, became the youngest Ohio State legislature when he defeated Patrick Morris of the Democratic Party from the 42nd State House District. Retired physician Prasad Srinivasan was elected unopposed on a Republican ticket from Connecticut House 31 District. Democrat Sam Singh was re-elected to Michigan House 69 District.

In Maryland, House Majority Leader Kumar Bharve and another Indian-American Aruna Miller also won their respective seats. In the Washington State, Democrat Pramila Jayapal was elected to the State Senate seat while his party colleague Satpal Sindhu lost to Republican Luanne VanWerven from the State House 42nd District. Meanwhile, Ami Bera and Ro Khanna were in tight race for their respective Congressional seats in California.

Reflecting a general resentment against the current Obama Administration, people in large number voted for the Republican Party, who not only increased their majority in the House of Representatives but also gained control of the powerful Senate.

Some of the political analysts have already started calling Obama as lame duck, which was strongly resented by the White House. Political analysts said that the very fact that Republicans won the gubernatorial elections in traditional Democratic strong hold of Maryland and Illinois is a clear indication of a Republican wave sweeping the country.

Democrat losses extended to governor's races across the country. Pat Quinn, Illinois's Democrat governor, was defeated handily even though Obama had campaigned for him.