Democrats smash Watergate record for House popular vote in midterms

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Nov. 26, 2018 / 4:24 PM GMT

By Jane C. Timm

Democrats won the House with the largest margin of victory in history for either party, according to NBC News election data.

While votes are still being tallied, Democratic House candidates currently hold an 8,805,130 vote lead over Republicans as of Monday morning. The Democrats’ national margin of victory in House contests smashes the previous record of 8.7 million votes in 1974, won just months after President Richard Nixon resigned from office in disgrace amid the Watergate scandal.

Of the more than 111 million votes cast in House races nationwide, Democrats took 53.1 percent — retaking control of the House of Representatives by flipping nearly 40 seats — while Republicans received 45.2 percent of the vote.

Nov. 25, 201802:02

Republicans held on to the Senate, with 52 seats and possibly 53, depending on the outcome of the Mississippi runoff election on Tuesday.

The results signal an enormously divided nation — polarized around the presidency of Donald Trump — and tee the country up for a potentially even more divisive 2020 election, as Trump vies for his political survival.