Democrats secured control of Congress on Tuesday following a historic and dramatic blue wave in the midterm elections. The results carry massive implications for the remaining two years of Donald Trump’s term in office, as Democrats flipped critical Republican seats nationwide and achieved a string of victories in gubernatorial contests and redrawn districts.
Democrats clinched 54 seats in the Senate and 225 House seats to capture both chambers. Rachel Leingang wrote in her analysis piece that Democrats of all stripes declared victory on Tuesday night, including moderates, progressives, populists, and Democratic socialists. These victories will provide avenues for Democrats to hold Trump accountable and act as a functioning branch of government, something voters have said they have been missing in Trump 2.0.
James Talarico won the US Senate race in Texas, breaking a 38-year drought for his party in the Republican stronghold. Troy Jackson won Maine’s Senate race by toppling the five-term Republican incumbent, Susan Collins, in a major upset. Abdul El-Sayed, a doctor and progressive insurgent, won the US Senate race in Michigan to become the country’s first Muslim senator. Jon Ossoff was re-elected to the Senate in Georgia, while Chris Pappas won New Hampshire’s US Senate race, making him the first out gay man to serve in the upper chamber.
Sherrod Brown will return to the US Senate after Ohio voters rejected incumbent Jon Husted. Annie Andrews won the race for US Senate in South Carolina, becoming the first Democrat to represent the state in the Senate for more than a quarter century. Former governor Roy Cooper will be the first Democrat to represent North Carolina in the Senate in 10 years after defeating Michael Whatley. Adam Hamilton won in Kansas to become the state’s first Democratic senator since 1932.
In gubernatorial races, Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term governor Greg Abbott to shatter the Republican grip on the highest executive office in Texas. Keisha Lance Bottoms will become the first Black female governor in the US after winning the race in Georgia. Deb Haaland, the former interior secretary under Joe Biden, was elected governor of New Mexico and will become the first Native American woman to govern a US state. Rob Sand was elected governor of Iowa, and Josh Turek won the US Senate race there.
Amy Acton was elected governor of Ohio after a contest where her rival Vivek Ramaswamy spent millions of dollars on attack ads. Xavier Becerra was elected governor of California. Republican Ashley Moody fended off a challenge from Angie Nixon to win Florida’s special election and retain her seat in the US Senate. Trump-endorsed Republican Byron Donalds will be the next governor of Florida and its first Black leader after defeating David Jolly.
Away from the ballot boxes, Donald Trump announced on election day that the United States will end military aid to Israel at the end of this year. Seven planes across Europe were searched or diverted following bomb threats, raising questions over potential coordination. A study found that babies are more likely to have heart defects in Louisiana areas with industrial pollution, and a US man was charged with mailing hundreds of powder-filled letters to officials before the midterms.
Canva is cutting or relocating more than 1,200 jobs, representing 22 percent of its global workforce, as part of a restructure of the design platform. Nasa’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday and burn up. Anil Menon voted in the midterm elections from the International Space Station, casting an electronic ballot on his station computer and sending it to election officials in Harris County, Texas.
