<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Republicans have secured the 218 seats needed to win a majority in the lower chamber of the US Congress, the BBC's US partner CBS News projects.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The party's majority in the House of Representatives is razor-thin, but it is enough to stall President Joe Biden's agenda for the next two years.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It marks a return to divided government, with Democrats still retaining power in the Senate.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has announced he will run again.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Split control of Washington was ushered in by last week's midterm elections, in which the Republicans - who had hoped to win back control of both chambers - underperformed expectations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Republican party is now projected to win between 218-223 seats in the 435-seat House, according to CBS.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But with votes in cliff-hanger races still being tallied, the party's majority may not be clear for days or even weeks.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Kevin McCarthy, who was elected by rank-and-file Republicans to be their nominee to replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as the next Speaker of the House on Tuesday, celebrated having "officially flipped" the chamber.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Americans are ready for a new direction, and House Republicans are ready to deliver," the California congressman tweeted on Wednesday night.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In order to be elected Speaker, the House Republican minority leader must now work to receive majority support from the 435 members of the full House.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">President Joe Biden congratulated Mr McCarthy and offered to work with Republicans to deliver results for Americans.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"As I said last week, the future is too promising to be trapped in political warfare," said the Democratic president.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The American people want us to get things done for them. They want us to focus on the issues that matter to them and on making their lives better."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As the majority party, Republicans will run key committees, empowering them to initiate legislation and investigate Mr Biden, his family and his administration.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But any Republican-backed legislation that emerges in the House could well be blocked in the Senate, which Democrats still control.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Republicans had hoped that Mr Biden's relatively low popularity, stubborn inflation, and the fact that congressional maps were redrawn by Republican-led state legislatures would herald sweeping midterms victories.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The blame for last Tuesday's showing has largely landed on two party leaders: Mr Trump and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">On Tuesday night, the ex-president formally announced a third bid for the White House in 2024 from a ballroom at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said voters had "not yet realised the full extent and gravity of the pain our nation is going through", but would change their minds over the next two years as he predicted things would get worse.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In Washington on Wednesday, Mr McConnell was re-elected as Senate minority leader, fending off a challenge from fellow Republican Rick Scott of Florida.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This was the first challenge to his lengthy leadership tenure in 15 years, amid bitter infighting over who is to blame for the failure to win back a majority in the Congress' upper chamber.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The two men butted heads frequently in the lead-up to the midterms and Mr Scott had said he is "not satisfied with the status quo".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The new Congress will be convened on 3 January 2023. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh </div>