Republicans scrape back control of US House after midterms flop

Slim majority means any member of party sitting in House of Representatives could stymie legislation

• US midterms: results in full

Republicans have won back control of the House of Representatives, scraping a victory from a midterm election that many had expected to be a red wave of wins but instead turned into more of a trickle.

Nevertheless, the party finally won its crucial 218th seat in the lower chamber of Congress, wresting away control from the Democrats and setting the stage for a showdown with Joe Biden in the next two years of his presidency.