Democrats claimed control of the House late Tuesday and picked up some governorships, but Republicans were poised to expand their majority in the Senate, delivering a split verdict in the first national referendum on Donald Trump's presidency, reports NDTV.

The most expensive and consequential midterm elections in modern times came to a dramatic finish that underscored the nation's deep polarization, but fell short of delivering a sweeping repudiation of Trump that Democrats had hoped would put an exclamation point on the "resistance" movement, NDTV reported.

The president helped Republicans win hotly-contested Senate races in Indiana, Missouri, North Dakota, Tennessee and Texas, and proclaimed the election's outcome a "tremendous success." Republicans held their grip throughout the South and in rural and exurban areas.