Republicans projected to keep control of U.S. Congress

By Richard Cowan and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Both chambers of the U.S. Congress are projected to remain under Republican control when they convene on Jan. 3, with voters on Tuesday dashing Democrats' hopes of taking over the Senate while keeping the House of Representatives in Republican hands.

A few Senate races were still undecided, but projections by major media organizations indicated that Democrats no longer had a probable path toward capturing control of the 100-seat Senate.

So far, Democrats had succeeded in gaining only one seat from Republicans, in Illinois, where U.S. Representative Tammy Duckworth defeated Senator Mark Kirk. Democrats needed to pick up a net five seats to take Senate control.

Republicans campaigned on an agenda that shunned comprehensive immigration reform and opposed the national healthcare program known as Obamacare, gun control and expanded environmental and financial regulations.

The Republican Congress could be dealing in January with a Republican president. Donald Trump was edging closer to winning the White House over Democrat Hillary Clinton with a series of shocking wins on Tuesday in key states such as Florida and Ohio.

In the Senate, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, was expected to remain at his post for at least the next two years.

On the House side, Speaker Paul Ryan, a Wisconsin Republican, could face a divided party and a contentious battle in his re-election bid in January for the leadership job.

(Additional reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh and Peter Cooney)