WASHINGTON - Resurgent Democrats grabbed a Pennsylvania Senate seat and an Indiana House seat long in Republican hands Tuesday night, challenging for control of Congress in midterm elections shaped by an unpopular war in Iraq and scandal at home.
Democrats also elected governors in Ohio and Massachusetts for the first time in more than a decade.
Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania became the first Republican senator to fall to the Democrats, losing his seat after two conservative terms to Bob Casey Jr., the state treasurer.
Democrats also won Senate races in New York, Minnesota and Ohio. Independent Joe Lieberman won re-election in Connecticut.
In the battle for control of the House, Rep. John Hostettler, R-Ind., lost to Brad Ellsworth.
All 435 House seats were on the ballot along with 33 Senate races, elections that Democrats sought to make a referendum on the president's handling of the war, the economy and more.
Democrats piled up early gains among the 36 statehouse races on the ballot.
In Ohio, Rep. Ted Strickland defeated Republican Ken Blackwell with ease to become the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years. Deval Patrick triumphed over Republican Kerry Healey in Massachusetts, and will become the state's first black chief executive.
Voters in Vermont made Rep. Bernie Sanders, an independent, the winner in a Senate race, succeeding retiring Sen. James Jeffords. Brooklyn-born with an accent to match, Sanders is an avowed Socialist who will side with Democrats when he is sworn into office in January.
Surveys of voters at their polling places nationwide suggested Democrats were winning the support of independents by a margin of almost 2-to-1, and middle-class voters were leaving Republicans behind.
About six in 10 voters said they disapproved of the way President Bush is handling his job, and roughly the same percentage opposed the war in Iraq. They were more inclined to vote for Democratic candidates than for Republicans.
In even larger numbers, about three-quarters of voters said scandals mattered to them in deciding how to vote, and they, too, were more likely to side with Democrats. The surveys were taken by The Associated Press and the networks.
History worked against the GOP, too. Since World War II, the party in control of the White House has lost an average 31 House seats and six Senate seats in the second midterm election of a president's tenure in office.
Casey, a conservative challenger who opposes abortion rights, ran well ahead of Santorum, a member of the Senate GOP leadership in search of a third term.
And in Virginia, Republican Sen. George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb were locked in a seesaw battle, neither man able to break clear of the other as the vote count mounted.
Republican hopes of springing an upset in New Jersey were quickly quashed, when appointed Sen. Bob Menendez won a full term, defeating state Sen. Tom Kean Jr.
Hostettler first came to Congress in the Republican landslide year of 1994. Often targeted by Democrats, he finally lost. Ellsworth, a county sheriff who ran as a conservative, has refused to say he would vote for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as speaker.
Several veteran senators coasted to new terms, including Republicans Richard Lugar in Indiana, Trent Lott in Mississippi and Olympia Snowe in Maine; and Democrats Robert C. Byrd in West Virginia; Edward M. Kennedy in Massachusetts; Tom Carper in Delaware and Bill Nelson in Florida, who thumped former secretary of state Katherine Harris to win a second term.
President Bush was at the White House, awaiting returns that would determine whether he would have to contend with divided government during his final two years in office.
Pelosi was in Washington, waiting to learn whether her party would wrest control of the House from Republicans and put her in line to become the first woman speaker in U.S. history.
"I'd rather be us than them," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel, the chairman of the House Democratic committee, referring to Republicans, as the first votes were counted.
Voters also filled state legislative seats and decided hundreds of statewide ballot initiatives on issues ranging from proposed bans on gay marriage to increases in the minimum wage.
Equipment problems, long lines and other snafus delayed poll closings in scattered locations, and Illinois officials were swamped with calls from voters complaining that election workers did not know how to operate new electronic equipment.
But overall, the Justice Department said polling complaints were down slightly from 2004 by early afternoon.
Congressional Democrats, locked out of power for most of the past dozen years, needed gains of 15 seats in the House and six in the Senate to gain majorities that would let them restrain Bush's conservative agenda through the rest of his term.
The president campaigned energetically to prevent it, primarily by raising money for GOP candidates. He brought in $193 million at about 90 fundraisers, most party events in Washington or closed candidate receptions. Only at the last did he turn to traditional open campaign rallies, jetting to 15 cities in the final 11 days.
With Bush's approval ratings low and the Iraq war unpopular, Republicans conceded in advance that Democrats would gain at least some seats in Congress as well as in statehouses across the country.
Democrats campaigned on a platform of change, beginning at the top.
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., was assured of re-election to his 11th term in Illinois. But his tenure as the longest-serving Republican speaker in decades was at risk.
Of the 33 Senate races on the ballot, 17 were for seats occupied by Democrats and 15 by Republicans, with one held by an independent. But that masked the real story: In both houses, nearly all the competitive seats were in GOP hands and Democrats were on the offensive.
Republican Sens. Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, Jim Talent of Missouri and Conrad Burns of Montana struggled all fall against difficult challenges. The Tennessee seat vacated by retiring Majority Leader Bill Frist was also hotly contested.
Republicans poured money into Maryland and Michigan in the campaign's closing days, hoping to spring upsets and offset expected losses elsewhere.
Inevitably, the stirrings of the next campaign were visible in this one. Sen. John McCain of Arizona traveled widely this fall, seeking a head start among Republicans looking at the 2008 presidential race. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., who recently said he was considering a 2008 candidacy, did likewise.
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