Democrats won control of the US House of Representatives early today after a dozen years of Republican rule in a resounding repudiation of a war, a president and a scandal-scarred Congress.

Republicans today struggled to prevent a Democratic takeover of the US Senate after losing Republican-held seats in Ohio, Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.

John Kerry cemented the Democratic presidential nomination, driving John Edwards from the race with a string of triumphs on what has been dubbed “Super Tuesday”.