President Barack Obama with first last Michelle Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Jill Biden celebrate on stage at election night party at McCormick Place, early Wednesday (Photo: AP)
President Barack Obama easily elected to a second and final four-year term despite a sluggish economy and a tight race that went down to the wire, beating Republican Mitt Romney.
World leaders welcome Obama's re-election, pledge deeper cooperation to fight global economic slump and maintain security across the globe.
US Congress remains unchanged and divided: Democrats retained control of the Senate, and Republicans still in charge in the House of Representatives.
Three states – Maine, Maryland and Washington – become the first to approve same-sex marriage in a referendum. They join six others and Washington, DC, the US capital, in giving full legal status to such unions.
Marijuana use for recreational purposes – not just medical ones – is legalized for the first time in the United States, in the states of Colorado and Washington, but voted down in Oregon.
Democrats win back icon Ted Kennedy's old seat as Massachusetts voters elect their first female senator, Elizabeth Warren, in the marquee congressional race. She defeated Republican incumbent Scott Brown.
Two conservative Republican Senate candidates widely condemned for pre-election remarks about rape and abortion lose their bids.
Todd Akin failed to unseat the Democratic incumbent in Missouri and Richard Mourdock, who Romney had championed before his controversial comment in a video endorsement, was unseated in a big Republican setback in Indiana.
Congress once again boasts a member of the Kennedy political dynasty. He is Joseph Kennedy III, 32, also from Massachusetts. He is a grandson of the late Robert F. Kennedy.
The Taliban note Obama's re-election saying he should pull all US troops out of Afghanistan now, ahead of schedule, and admit defeat in the war.
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