GOP Easily Keeps Control of House

As the night's results filter in, NBC News is projecting early that—surprise, surprise—Republicans will retain control of the House. While the GOP win was a virtual certainty beforehand, the question now is how much the party can pad its margin. By AP's count, Republicans currently control 234 seats of the 435 seats, and various projections have them adding six to 15 seats in these midterms, reports the New York Times.

NBC, for the record, projects the new total to be 242-193, but it's got a margin of error of eight seats. As a historical footnote, Republicans would need to hit 246 to match their high mark—reached when Harry S. Truman was president, notes AP. "If we do, we're up in territory we've not seen," says Oregon Rep. Greg Walden, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. "You're in pretty thin oxygen when you're up there as a Republican." (More House of Representatives stories.)