The election of Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) on Tuesday and belated victories of Democrats TJ Cox in California's 21st Congressional District and Anthony Brindisi in New York's 22nd District — both declared Wednesday — bring the 2018 midterms to an official close. Republicans will control the Senate by a 53 to 47 margin and Democrats flipped 40 seats to win a 235-200 majority in the House, the party's best showing since gaining 49 seats in 1974.

According to Dave Wasserman at the Cook Political Report, Democrats won 9.4 million more votes than Republicans in the House races, a margin of victory of 8.4 percent, with a record 60.1 million votes versus the GOP's 50.7 million. The incoming House includes 62 new Democrats (35 of them women) and 31 new Republicans (including one woman).

NPR White House correspondent Tamara Keith tallied up how the final results look for President Trump, who played an active, defining role in the campaign. Trump's final score: 54 people he endorsed won, 46 lost.

If Trump batted above .500, California Republicans were decimated. With Cox's victory, Republicans will hold only seven of California's 53 House seats, the fewest since 1947, when California had only 23 seats, according to the Los Angeles Times. Bloomberg's Greg Giroux puts that in perspective:

The culling of California's GOP delegation is a particular blow to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) — soon to be House minority leader — and you can read more about that at the Los Angeles Times. Peter Weber

A Star Is Born and Black Panther seem poised to clean up in awards season.

The Screen Actors Guild awards nominations were released Wednesday, and in the top category of Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture, the nominees are A Star Is Born, Black Panther, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, and Crazy Rich Asians. History suggests that one of these films will win Best Picture at the Oscars, as it's rare for a movie to do so without first being nominated in this category. (Last year, however, The Shape of Water broke from that tradition by taking Best Picture after a SAG snub.) Roma, a Best Picture frontrunner, was not nominated, nor were other Best Picture hopefuls like Green Book, Vice, and If Beale Street Could Talk.

A Star Is Born earned four nominations, the most of any film, while Black Panther picked up a key nod after previously being recognized at the Golden Globe Awards and the Critics Choice Awards.

Meanwhile, the lead actor nominees are Christian Bale (Vice), Bradley Cooper (A Star Is Born), Rami Malek (Bohemian Rhapsody), Viggo Mortensen (Green Book), and John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman), while the lead actress nominees are Emily Blunt (Mary Poppins Returns), Glenn Close (The Wife), Olivia Colman (The Favourite), Lady Gaga (A Star Is Born), and Melissa McCarthy (Can You Ever Forgive Me?).

Emily Blunt got a second nomination in the best supporting actress category for A Quiet Place, with her fellow nominees being Amy Adams (Vice), Margot Robbie (Mary Queen of Scots), Emma Stone (The Favourite), and Rachel Weisz (The Favourite).

In the television field, The Americans, Better Call Saul, The Handmaid's Tale, Ozark, and This Is Us were nominated in the top drama series category, while Atlanta, Barry, GLOW, The Kominsky Method, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel were nominated in the top comedy series category.

The 25th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards will take place on Jan. 27. Read the full list of nominees at Variety. Brendan Morrow

The new Democratic-controlled House that will take over in January is set to be the most diverse in history. Ann Coulter apparently thinks there's only one thing that ties them all together.

In a Tuesday appearance on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle, Coulter discussed a Tablet report that linked Women's March leaders to anti-semitism. The conservative author and pundit didn't seem surprised by the report, instead alleging that "we're going to be seeing a lot of these disputes in the Democratic Party base because they all hate one another."

Coulter went on to describe the Democratic Party's components as "the Muslims and the Jews and the various exotic sexual groups and the black church ladies with the college queers." The only thing these people "have in common," Coulter said, is that they all "hate white men."

Twitter lit up with angry responses, of course. And just for the record: Pew Research has found that 37 percent of white men "affiliate with or lean toward the Democratic Party." Kathryn Krawczyk

We regret to inform you that people actually like Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) newly formed beard.

The "universally despised" senator returned to Washington, D.C. after Thanksgiving sporting a patchy something that some people called a beard. Now, it's been a few weeks, Cruz's facial hair is for real, and the world is reacting in an absurdly positive manner.

When Cruz first cracked a smile surrounded by some hair last month, The Cut speculated it might be a celebration of #NoShaveNovember. But November has ended and regrettably, the beard has not. Cruz's Friday appearance on the Senate floor prompted Slate to say his beard "looks great" and makes him "semi-hot." And a Fox News appearance Wednesday led CNN's Andrew Kaczynski to tweet "If Ted Cruz had this beard in 2016 he would have won" the presidential election. Even Chrissy Teigen conceded in Cruz's favor.

While it's nowhere near the improvement that hipster glasses brought to Energy Secretary Rick Perry's face, even the harshest of skeptics must admit Cruz's beard does disrupt a face a neurologist described as naturally unlikeable. The bigger question is why Cruz sprouted a beard now, after winning his surprisingly challenging Senate race with Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas). Perhaps it's because the Texas GOP's reminder that O'Rourke once had a goatee famously backfired, and Cruz has been studying O'Rourke's face on plane rides ever since. Kathryn Krawczyk

After her Oval Office meeting with President Trump, CNN's Don Lemon and Chris Cuomo were in agreement: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) nailed it.

Lemon and Cuomo spoke on Tuesday night after Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) sat down in meeting with President Trump and argued in front of cameras about border funding, with Pelosi later calling the wall a "manhood thing" for Trump. Lemon was absolutely effusive in his praise. "Just objectively speaking," he says he thought while watching it, "oh my gosh, Nancy Pelosi is a boss," per Mediaite.

Lemon went on to say that Pelosi handled herself "amazingly" and that Democrats are likely thanking God for her leadership. He also said that by trying to dismiss the cameras, Pelosi had been trying to save Trump "the embarrassment" of telling him he doesn't know what he's talking about on television. Cuomo, meanwhile, agreed, arguing that Pelosi "really held her own" against Trump and applauding her for not being "too nasty," adding that Trump "got NanChucked by the two of them."

Responding to conservative media, Lemon also said that "no matter how much they spin it, I'm telling you, [Trump] got outflanked today." But Lemon may be surprised to learn that even Fox News' Brian Kilmeade kind of agreed with him, saying on Fox & Friends on Wednesday that Pelosi had the "same brawling tactics" as Trump but had a "better way of doing it." Brendan Morrow

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was grilled Wednesday morning about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi — on Fox & Friends, of all places.

Pompeo repeatedly dodged questions about the murder of the Washington Post columnist by Saudi officials, which the CIA has reportedly concluded was ordered by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The Trump administration, however, has insisted there is no "direct evidence" tying bin Salman to the murder. Pompeo repeated that assertion on Wednesday morning while noting that Saudi Arabia is an "important ally," per Mediaite.

But host Brian Kilmeade wasn't satisfied with that explanation, telling Pompeo that the Saudis are the ones who have damaged the relationship with the U.S. and that even people like Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) are convinced bin Salman was involved. "We know the prince knows, right?" Kilmeade asked. "You know that he knows." Pompeo didn't really answer, so Kilmeade followed up with, "When you looked him in the eye and he denied it, did you believe him?" Pompeo again wouldn't answer, instead saying, "The kingdom of Saudi Arabia decides who's running the country."

Host Ainsley Earhardt challenged Pompeo again by bringing up the CIA's conclusion, to which he responded that some of that reporting is inaccurate. But when the hosts followed up to ask if he means the reporting about the CIA's conclusion is inaccurate, he wouldn't directly answer that, either. "They're still working on it," he said. Watch Fox & Friends' confrontation with Pompeo below. Brendan Morrow

Outgoing U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley swears that when it comes to foreign policy, Trump's unpredictable nature is a feature, not a bug.

Haley spoke with Today on Wednesday morning as she prepares to exit the Trump administration after two years on the job. She told NBC's Craig Melvin that there were scenarios in which the president's bombastic rhetoric actually helped her maneuver behind-the-scenes.

"He would ratchet up the rhetoric, and then I'd go back to the ambassadors and say, 'You know, he's pretty upset. I can't promise you what he's going to do or not, but I can tell you if we do these sanctions, it will keep him from going too far,'" she said.

When Melvin observed that it sounded like they were playing good cop, bad cop, Haley simply said she was "trying to get the job done." She went on to say, "I got the job done by being truthful, but also by letting him be unpredictable and not showing our cards."

This is the first interview Haley has given since announcing her departure from the administration, and while her October announcement set off a firestorm of speculation about her eying a possible White House bid, she swore to Today that she and her husband have "never talked" about the possibility of her running for president. Watch Haley's interview with Today below. Brendan Morrow