WASHINGTON, D.C.: Democrats held the Senate and Republicans retained the House of Representatives, projections said on Wednesday, raising the likely prospect of more partisan gridlock in a divided US Congress.

The Republicans suffered multiple blows to their quest to take back control of the Senate, failing to win several hoped-for seats in Tuesday’s elections, as the Democrats added three to their column.

The biggest reverse came in hotly contested Massachusetts, with television networks giving the win to Democrat Elizabeth Warren, ousting Republican Scott Brown, regaining the seat of late Democratic icon Edward Kennedy.

While eyes were focused on the race for the White House, the battle for control of the nation’s two chambers of Congress was vital to chances of making any headway toward easing Washington’s bitterly split politics.

Experts were looking to see if the results could lead lawmakers away from the current stalemate but despite voter disgust with a “do-nothing Congress” in the past two years, there seemed no prospect of change.

Television networks projected early on that Republicans would hold the House as was widely expected, as the Democrats had needed to win back an improbable 25 seats to change the balance of power.

Some 33 of the Senate’s 100 seats were up for grabs, with 23 of those being defended by Democrats, giving Republicans a chance—albeit slim—of gaining four seats and seizing control of the chamber.

Republicans swept back control of the House of Representatives in mid-term elections in 2010 after a backlash to President Barack Obama’s signature health care reforms.

They have since used their majority in the lower House and their ability to delay legislation in the Senate to thwart the White House incumbent’s plans.

With a dangerous combination of expiring tax breaks and federal spending cuts looming, the US economy could plunge over its so-called “fiscal cliff” in January and Congress will take center stage after the votes are counted.

Republican Speaker John Boehner said retaining the House had showed US voters “made clear that there is no mandate for raising tax rates” but he pledged to work with all members in Congress to achieve a fiscal breakthrough.

All new legislation must be passed in identical form by both the Senate and the House before it is signed into law by the president, a fact Obama knows all too well, blaming Republican lawmakers for blocking his agenda.

Much of the attention in the congressional election campaign had centered on Massachusetts, where Republican White House nominee Mitt Romney was governor between 2003 and 2007.

Key Senate races where winners were yet to be declared by the networks were the rural states of Montana, Nebraska and North Dakota.

The fiscal cliff that will dominate discussions in Congress between now and Christmas is a major threat to the economy after a protracted but possibly reckless compromise was agreed last year between Democrats and Republicans.

If Congress fails to agree on how to cut spending over the medium term, the current deal would force deep, immediate spending cuts on the government from January 1, while raising taxes.

If no new plan emerges, the existing agreement could cut up to four percent from US gross domestic product, according to the International Monetary Fund, likely tipping the United States back into recession.