Republicans will maintain majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, as votes were still being tallied for a number of races.

While the GOP keeps control, a number of moderates on both sides lost, which is likely to make the House even more polarized.

For example, Rep. Larry Kissell, a moderate North Carolina Democrat, lost his bid for reelection, as did Reps. Charlie Bass, R-New Hampshire, and "Bob" Dold Jr., R-Illinois.

Some of the tea party-backed GOP freshmen who had helped their party secure control two years ago were given the heave-ho Tuesday by voters. They include Reps. Joe Walsh and Bobby Shilling of Illinois, Anne Marie Buerkle and Nan Hayworth of New York and Francisco Canseco of Texas.

House Republicans lost in states that President Barack Obama won handily, including four GOP seats in Illinois. At least five Democratic incumbents also lost -- Rep. Ben Chandler of Kentucky; Rep. Larry Kissell of North Carolina, Rep. Leonard Boswell of Iowa, Rep. Kathy Hochul of New York and Rep. Mark Critz of Pennsylvania.

Winners included Rep. John Barrow, a Georgia moderate Democrat; Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., who has been receiving treatment for a mood disorder; and Joseph Kennedy III of Massachusetts.

"With this vote, the American people have also made clear that there is no mandate for raising tax rates," Speaker John Boehner told supporters at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington.

He had told CNN on Sunday that the GOP "might" pick up more seats in the House.

"I feel pretty good about at least maintaining the numbers that we have," Boehner said then. "After winning 65 seats from the Democrats in the 2010 cycle, and all the experts been talking about how many seats we're going to lose -- five, 10, 15 -- but I never bought into the idea that we had to lose any seats."

After Obama was declared the winner, Boehner issued a statement that made no mention of taxes, but did focus on the economy. "If there is a mandate, it is a mandate for both parties to find common ground and take steps together to help our economy grow and create jobs, which is critical to solving our debt," he said.

"Americans were unwilling to hand the speaker's gavel back to Nancy Pelosi because her party chose to double down on the same failed policies that caused her to lose it in the first place," said National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Pete Sessions of Texas, in a statement, referring to the minority leader. "Just as in 2010, our House Republican candidates listened to the American people and rejected the Democrats' tax-and-spend agenda that threatens the American Dream."

Going into the election, Republicans controlled the House by 242-193. Though all 435 members faced voters on Tuesday, control of the chamber rested on some 50 to 60 races that were considered competitive, some of them because of redistricting.

The number of swing districts has shrunk in recent years as GOP legislatures have shored up their seats and Democratic-led state houses have strengthened their party's districts.

Democrats needed to pick up 25 Republican seats to regain control.

Pelosi and other Democrats noted that 58 Republicans represent districts won by Obama in 2008; they pointed to those wins as a template to a successful election night, but by shortly after 9 p.m., CNN projected that they would not achieve their goal.

David Wasserman, who analyzes House races for the Cook Political Report, said Democrats were waging competitive campaigns in just 32 of those districts -- not enough to regain control of the House.

Stuart Rothenberg, an independent campaign analyst, projected last week that Democrats would gain two to eight seats.

The battleground for many of these House races had tilted increasingly toward the Northeast and the Midwest, after a number of moderate Democrats lost in Southern districts in the 2010 midterms.

In Illinois, Democrats saw opportunities to defeat tea party freshman Rep. Joe Walsh, seven-term Rep. Judy Biggert and a moderate Republican freshman, Rep. Bob Dold.

Democrats also set their sights on freshmen Reps. Nan Hayworth, Chris Gibson, Ann Marie Buerkle, and Michael Grimm in New York.