republicans won back control of the house of representatives in the november general election, with a net gain of 63 seats, the largest gain for either party since 1948. the gop also picked up six seats in the senate, falling short of retaking control in that chamber, and posted additional gains in state governor and legislative races. boehner became speaker of the house while mcconnell remained as the senate minority leader. in an interview with "national journal" magazine about congressional republican priorities, mcconnell explained that "the single most important thing we want to achieve is for (barack) obama to be a one-term president".