WASHINGTON — Resurgent Democrats won control of the House and challenged the Republicans’ grip on the Senate in midterm elections early Wednesday, riding a powerful wave of public anger over the war in Iraq and scandal at home.

“Mr. President, we need a new direction in Iraq,” said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, celebrating her party’s return to power — and her own ascension as first female speaker in history.

Aided by public dissatisfaction with President Bush, Democrats won gubernatorial races in New York, Ohio and Massachusetts for the first time in more than a decade, then put Colorado, Maryland and Arkansas in their column as well.

At 3 a.m. in the East, Democrats had won more than two dozen House seats held by Republicans, more than enough to guarantee a return to power after 12 years in the minority. Several GOP officials said they expected Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., to step down as party leader and possibly even retire from Congress.

Democratic challengers defeated Republican incumbents to win Senate seats in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island and Missouri.

That left control of the Senate up in the air, pending the outcome of races in Montana and Virginia. Sens. Conrad Burns and George Allen both trailed, and Democrats needed to win both races to emerge with a majority.

Bush monitored the returns from the White House as the voters picked a new Congress certain to complicate his final two years in office. He arranged to call Pelosi on Wednesday morning, then hold an afternoon news conference.

“They have not gone the way he would have liked,” press secretary Tony Snow said of the election returns.

More than the party-run battle for control of Congress and the statehouses were at stake.

South Dakota voters rejected the toughest abortion law in the land — a measure that would have outlawed the procedure except when needed to save the life of the mother.

In a comeback unlike any other, Sen. Joe Lieberman won a new term in Connecticut — dispatching Democrat Ned Lamont and thus winning when it counted most against the man who had prevailed in a summertime primary. Lieberman, a supporter of Bush’s war policy, ran as an independent, but will side with the Democrats when he returns to Washington.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton coasted to a second Democratic term in New York, winning roughly two-thirds of the vote in a warm-up for a possible run for the White House in 2008. Charlie Crist was a rare bright spot for Republicans, winning the Florida governorship now held by the president’s brother Jeb. GOP Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won a new term in California, the nation’s most populous state.

But that was cold comfort for the Republicans, who have controlled the White House and both houses of Congress for most of the time since Bush took office and used their majority to pass large tax cuts and back the war in Iraq.

Democrats defeated Republican Sens. Rick Santorum in Pennsylvania, Mike DeWine in Ohio, Jim Talent in Missouri and Lincoln Chafee in Rhode Island _ four lawmakers who covered the spectrum from conservative to moderate.

But they came up short in Tennessee as Republican Bob Corker won a hotly contested race, defeating Rep. Harold Ford. Jr., who had hoped to become the first Southern black senator since Reconstruction.

Burns, seeking a fourth term, trailed Democrat Jon Tester. Allen trailed his Democratic challenger, Jim Webb, by a few thousand votes, with a strong likelihood of a recount.

Indiana was particularly cruel to House Republicans. Reps. John Hostettler, Chris Chocola and Mike Sodrel all lost in a state where Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels’ unpopularity compounded the dissatisfaction with Bush.

Republican Rep. Nancy Johnson lost in her bid for a 13th term in Connecticut; Anne Northup fell in Kentucky after 10 years in the House; Rep. Charles Taylor was defeated in North Carolina.

One of the biggest surprises of the night was Republican Rep. Jim Leach’s defeat in Iowa after a career that spanned 30 years. He lost to Dave Loebsack, a college professor making his first run for elective office. The two parties spent lavishly on television commercials in dozens of districts deemed competitive — but not that one.

Scandal took an undeniable toll on the Republicans. Democrat Zack Space won the race to succeed Bob Ney, who pleaded guilty to corruption this fall in the Jack Abramoff scandal. Republican Rep. John Sweeney lost his seat in New York several days after reports that he had roughed up his wife — an allegation she denied. Republicans also lost the seat that Rep. Mark Foley had held. He resigned on Sept. 29 after being confronted with sexually explicit computer messages he had written to teenage pages.

Rep. Don Sherwood lost despite apologizing to the voters for a long-term affair with a much younger woman; and Rep. Curt Weldon, also from Pennsylvania, was denied a new term after he became embroiled in a corruption investigation.

The GOP also lost the Texas seat once held by former Majority Leader Tom DeLay.

Surveys of voters suggested Democrats were winning the support of independents with almost 60 percent support, and middle-class voters were leaving Republicans behind.

About six in 10 voters said they disapproved of the way Bush is handling his job, that the nation is on the wrong track and that they oppose the war in Iraq. Voters in all groups were more inclined to vote for Democratic candidates than for Republicans.

Over half of the voters registered dissatisfaction with the way Republican leaders in Congress dealt with Foley. They voted overwhelming Democratic in House races, by a margin of 3-to-1.

The surveys also suggested Democrats were winning the support of independents with almost 60 percent support, and middle-class voters were leaving Republicans behind. The surveys were taken by The Associated Press and the networks.

History worked against the GOP, too. Since World War II, the party in control of the White House has lost an average 31 House seats and six Senate seats in the second midterm election of a president’s tenure in office.

Santorum became the first Republican senator to fall to the Democrats, losing his seat after two conservative terms to Bob Casey Jr., the state treasurer.

In Ohio, DeWine lost to Rep. Sherrod Brown, a liberal seven-term lawmaker. Chafee, the most liberal Republican in the Senate and an opponent of the war, fell not long afterward to Sheldon Whitehouse, former state attorney general. Claire McCaskill, state auditor, defeated Talent in Missouri.

“It’s very hard to watch,” lamented Dick Armey, who was House majority leader when the GOP gained power a dozen years ago.