Democrats win Congress as midterms bring historic state victories

Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, flipping Senate seats across the country and ending Republican control of the House for the rest of President Donald Trump’s term. The results included Democratic victories in states Trump won comfortably two years ago, while vote counting continued in some races.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is poised to become speaker if his colleagues retain him as their leader, told supporters: “Today begins the great American comeback.” He would be the first Black House speaker. Democrats appeared likely to win more than 230 House seats, Al Jazeera reported.

In the Senate, Democrats flipped at least six seats, according to Al Jazeera. Adam Hamilton defeated Republican incumbent Roger Marshall in Kansas, giving the state its first Democratic senator in 94 years. In South Carolina, paediatrician Annie Andrews defeated Senator Darline Graham, who had been appointed to fill her late brother Lindsey Graham’s seat. Andrews will be the state’s first Democratic senator in nearly 30 years.

“Nobody in Washington recruited me to run. Nobody handed me this seat. Nobody wrote my scripts,” Andrews told supporters. Graham, conceding, said “conservatives have more work to do.”

Democrats also won Senate races in Texas and North Carolina. James Talarico defeated Ken Paxton in Texas, while former governor Roy Cooper won the North Carolina seat held by retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis. In Iowa, Josh Turek defeated Ashley Hinson. Maine’s Susan Collins, a Republican senator for three decades, conceded to Democrat Troy Jackson. Collins called serving her state the “honour of my life,” according to the BBC.

Several races broke longstanding barriers. Texas elected Gina Hinojosa as its first Latina governor, the BBC reported. In Georgia, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms became the first Black woman elected governor in the United States, according to the BBC. Georgia Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff won re-election. In New Hampshire, Chris Pappas became the first openly gay man elected to the Senate. Republican Byron Donalds was elected Florida’s first Black governor.

Economic concerns weighed heavily on voters. Associated Press polling cited by Al Jazeera found that about four in 10 voters named the economy as the country’s most important issue, with many concerned about petrol and grocery prices. Prices rose after the US-Israel war on Iran began in February, the outlets reported.

Trump offered differing responses to the losses. Speaking to US media outlets, he said Democrats had done a “good job,” said he would accept the results and acknowledged that the Iran war had affected voting. “Iran was a piece of it,” he said, according to the BBC.

On social media, Trump pointed instead to his absence from the ballot. “I wasn’t on the Ballot,” he wrote. “And if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!”