Bryan Pirkle

President Barack Obama's determination to act alone to change the immigration system promptly drove a wedge Wednesday into the post-election commitment from the president and Republican leaders to find common ground under the new political alignment.

Republicans took giant steps toward controlling the Senate on Tuesday, ousting Democratic senators in Colorado and Arkansas, and replacing retiring Democrats in three other states.

After 10 years in Congress, Democratic Rep. John Barrow of Augusta has been defeated by a Republican challenger.

Republicans are retaining Senate seats in Tennessee, Mississippi, Maine and Oklahoma.

Veteran Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas lost his seat Tuesday to a freshman House Republican, putting the GOP a step closer to its goal of controlling the Senate for the first time in eight years.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has been re-elected to his Senate seat from Kentucky. And he will now be waiting to learn whether he might be the majority leader in the new Congress.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell won a hard-fought sixth term Tuesday, putting him a step closer to his lifelong dream of becoming majority leader and getting the GOP off to a good start in its goal of taking control of the Senate.

Most Americans voting Tuesday were unhappy or even angry with the Obama administration, exit polls show. But most were upset with Republican leaders, too.

Resurgent Republicans captured a West Virginia Senate seat long in Democratic hands and bid for control of the Senate and a tighter grip on the House Tuesday in elections shaped by widespread voter discontent with President Barack Obama.

Above all else, what's at stake in Tuesday's midterm elections is control of the U.S. Senate.