Democrats seized the House majority from President Donald Trump’s Republican Party on Tuesday in a suburban revolt that threatened what’s left of the President’s governing agenda. But the GOP gained ground in the Senate and preserved key governorships, beating back a “blue wave” that never fully materialised.
The mixed verdict in the first nationwide election of Mr. Trump’s young presidency underscored the limits of his hardline immigration rhetoric in America’s evolving political landscape, where college-educated voters in the nation’s suburbs rejected his warnings of a migrant “invasion.”
Blue-collar voters and rural America embraced his aggressive talk and stances. However, the new Democratic House majority will end the Republican Party’s dominance in Washington for the final two years of Mr. Trump’s first term with major questions looming about health care, immigration and government spending.
The President’s party will maintain control of the executive and judicial branches of the government, in addition to the Senate, but Democrats suddenly have a foothold that gives them subpoena power to probe deep into Trump’s personal and professional missteps and his long-withheld tax returns.
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Maine’s independent Sen. Angus King has withstood a challenge from opponents on his ideological right and left to retain his seat.
King, a popular former Maine governor, defeated Republican state Sen. Eric Brakey and Democratic activists Zak Ringelstein to win a second term on Tuesday. King caucuses with the Democrats and was first elected to the Senate in 2012.
Tuesday’s election was the first U.S. Senate race to use Maine’s ranked-choice style of voting.
Brakey or Ringelstein could have forced additional voting rounds under the system if King had fallen short of 50 percent of the popular vote. But King, who has long been popular with Maine voters, had a decisive win.
Republican Josh Hawley has unseated Missouri’s Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill in a national victory for the GOP.
Republicans have long hoped to flip McCaskill’s seat in the increasingly Republican state. Missouri was once considered a bellwether known for picking the successful presidential candidate, but it’s since lost that status and trended right.
President Donald Trump won the state by nearly 19 percentage points. Missouri’s attorney general pinned his campaign to his support for the president.
McCaskill was one of 10 Democratic Senate incumbents up for re-election in states Trump won.
Voters first elected McCaskill to the Senate in 2006. She won re-election in 2012 after Republican candidate Todd Akin said women’s bodies can prevent pregnancy in cases of “legitimate rape.”
Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell has won re-election in Washington, beating Republican challenger Susan Hutchison.
Cantwell easily outdistanced Hutchison, a former Seattle TV anchor and state GOP chairwoman.
Cantwell is a former tech executive who previously served one term in the U.S. House and six years as a state representative in the state Legislature. She will be serving her fourth term.
It’s been nearly a quarter century since the GOP has captured a major statewide race in Washington.
The last time voters sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate was 1994, when Sen. Slade Gorton was re-elected to his final term before being ousted by Cantwell in 2000.
Triumphant Republicans retained control of the Senate on Tuesday with relatively little suspense, ousting Democratic incumbents in Indiana, North Dakota and Missouri and delivering a victory to President Donald Trump by preserving the chamber as a showplace for his conservative agenda for two more years.
Republicans paved their path to victory by defeating Democrats Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Claire McCaskill of Missouri. They also held onto competitive seats in Texas, where Sen. Ted Cruz fended off Rep. Beto O’Rourke, the well-financed liberal darling, and in Tennessee, where Rep. Marsha Blackburn prevailed.
Rep. Keith Ellison has been elected Minnesota attorney general despite an ex-girlfriend’s accusation of domestic abuse.
Ellison defeated Republican Doug Wardlow on Tuesday for an office that threatened to swing to Republicans for the first time in nearly half a century.
Ellison rose to national prominence as the first Muslim elected to Congress and last year became deputy chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He talked of using the attorney general’s office to resist President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Then Ellison’s ex-girlfriend accused him of dragging her off a bed during an argument in 2016. Ellison repeatedly denied her allegations, but they helped make the race close, even though Wardlow was a virtual unknown.
California favours Democrats yet again
Democrat Gavin Newsom has won the governor’s race in California, a state that has provided some of the strongest resistance to President Donald Trump.
Newsom defeated Republican businessman John Cox in Tuesday’s election to succeed outgoing Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown. Brown and Newsom are critics of the Republican president.
Newsom served as lieutenant governor under Brown and has pledged to pursue universal health care and a surge in housing construction.
Referendum
Along with midterm elections, voters in some provinces made their choice in on proposed constitutional amendments.
Colorado voters have approved a pair of constitutional amendments revamping the redistricting process ahead of the 2020 Census. The Colorado measures will create a 12-member commission to handle redistricting, composed of four Democrats, four Republicans and four independents. The commission will be required to “maximize the number of politically competitive districts.”
Missouri voters have approved a constitutional amendment making the state the first to require a specific mathematical formula for determining “partisan fairness” when drawing legislative districts.
Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment stripping the legislature and the governor of their power to draw districts for Congress and the state Legislature.
Mississippi heading to a runoff
Mississippi’s U.S. Senate special election is headed to a runoff, and the state’s voters will either elect a woman to the office for the first time ever or a black man for the first time since Reconstruction.
Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy advanced Tuesday from a field of four. They compete in a Nov. 27 runoff, and the winner will serve the final two years of a term started by Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, who retired in April.
Republican Gov. Phil Bryant appointed Hyde-Smith, who was state agriculture commissioner, to temporarily succeed Cochran until the special election is decided. She is the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress, but no woman has been elected to the job from the state. She is endorsed by President Donald Trump.
Espy is a former congressman and former U.S. agriculture secretary.
Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell has won re-election in Washington, beating Republican challenger Susan Hutchison.
Cantwell easily outdistanced Hutchison, a former Seattle TV anchor and state GOP chairwoman.
Cantwell is a former tech executive who previously served one term in the U.S. House and six years as a state representative in the state Legislature. She will be serving her fourth term.
It’s been nearly a quarter century since the GOP has captured a major statewide race in Washington.
The last time voters sent a Republican to the U.S. Senate was 1994, when Sen. Slade Gorton was re-elected to his final term before being ousted by Cantwell in 2000.
Debbie Stabenow wins fourth term
Democrat Debbie Stabenow of Michigan has won a fourth term in the Senate, defeating Republican challenger John James.
Stabenow campaigned as a pragmatic lawmaker who forges bipartisan agreement despite the partisan rancor in Washington. She cited her work shaping farm legislation and pushing a new law that allows pharmacists to tell consumers when they can save on prescriptions by paying cash instead of using insurance.
The 68-year-old Stabenow criticized President Trump’s attempt to slash federal funding for the Great Lakes. She said James would have been an unabashed enthusiast of Trump with no governing experience.
James is a black combat veteran and business executive. Trump won Michigan in 2016. He called James “a star” candidate.
Kansas Democrat to be first Native American woman in Congress
Democratic newcomer Sharice Davids has defeated incumbent Rep. Kevin Yoder in Kansas to become the nation’s first LGBT Native American in Congress.
The 38-year-old activist, lawyer and political newcomer already garnered national attention as part of a crop of diverse Democratic candidates.
Yoder was endorsed by President Donald Trump, but the suburban Kansas City district voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. The district is a mix of fast-growing bedroom communities, established suburbs and poorer city neighborhoods.
Davids emerged from a six-person Democratic primary and energized voters and Democratic donors by emphasizing her biography. Her history includes mixed martial arts fights.
She’s a member of the Wisconsin-based Ho-Chunk Nation and was raised by a single mother who served in the Army and worked for the U.S. Postal Service.
Two Muslim women to enter House
The House is getting its first two Muslim women and Massachusetts is getting its first black congresswoman while Arizona and Tennessee stand to elect their first woman senators in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Boston City Councilwoman Ayanna Pressley will represent Massachusetts’ 7th Congressional District in the next Congress. Pressley stunned the political establishment in September, defeating a 10-term incumbent in the Democratic primary, and was unopposed on Tuesday.
Also in the House, Democrats Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan will be the first Muslim women to serve in Congress. And regardless of who wins in Arizona’s competitive Senate race, the state will elect either Republican Martha McSally or Democrat Kyrsten Sinema as the state’s first woman to serve in the chamber.
Also in the Senate, Republican Marsha Blackburn will become Tennessee’s first woman senator.
Democrats win control of the U.S. House of Representatives
Democrats rode a wave of dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump to win control of the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday, Fox News and NBC News projected, giving Democrats the opportunity to block Trump's agenda and open his administration to intense scrutiny.
In midterm elections two years after he won the White House, Trump and his fellow Republicans were set to maintain their majority in the U.S. Senate, CNN, NBC and ABC News said, following a divisive campaign marked by fierce clashes over race, immigration and other cultural issues.
At last count, Democrats had gained a net 14 of the 23 Republican-held seats needed to capture a majority.
With a House majority, Democrats will have the power to investigate Trump's tax returns and possible conflicts of interest, and challenge his overtures to Saudi Arabia, Russia and North Korea.
Democratic businessman Dean Phillips has defeated Republican Rep. Erik Paulsen in a suburban Minnesota district that figures heavily into Democrats’ hopes for a House takeover.
Paulsen had easily won elections throughout his five terms in office even as the Minneapolis-area district trended toward Democrats.
But the district favored Hillary Clinton by nearly 10 points two years ago, and a statewide poll late in the race showed Phillips with a comfortable lead. Outside groups poured more than $10 million into the battleground race.
Phillips ran his family’s liquor company and started a chain of local coffee shops. He painted Paulsen as too in-step with President Donald Trump, though Paulsen tried to distance himself from the president.
Gretchen Whitmer elected Michigan Governor
Democrat Gretchen Whitmer has won the Michigan governor’s race to break a Republican power bloc that had been a top target for Democrats.
Mr. Whitmer is a former state legislative leader and defeated Republican Attorney General Bill Schuette in Tuesday’s election. She will succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Rick Snyder.
Republicans had controlled the governor’s office and both chambers of the Michigan Legislature since racking up big victories in the 2010 midterm elections during Democratic President Barack Obama’s tenure. The GOP used that trifecta of power to enact congressional and state legislative maps that favored Republicans.
That made Michigan a top target for national Democrats.
Mr. Whitmer’s victory continues a trend of party changes in Michigan. Voters have not elected back-to-back governors of the same party since the 1960s.
Republican businessman Kevin Stitt has won Oklahoma’s open gubernatorial seat.
Mr. Stitt defeated former Democratic attorney general Drew Edmondson in Tuesday’s election to replace term-limited Republican Gov. Mary Fallin.
Mr. Stitt will be paired with Republican majorities in the Oklahoma House and Senate in the traditionally conservative state.
Alabama, South Carolina reelect Republicans
Voters in Alabama and South Carolina have chosen to give full terms to a pair of Republican governors who rose to power because of political circumstances.
South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster defeated Democratic state Rep. James Smith on Tuesday to win a four-year term.
McMaster had been elevated from lieutenant governor in 2017 when Gov. Nikki Haley left office to become President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey defeated Democrat Walt Maddox to win a four-year term. Ivey was elevated from lieutenant governor in 2017 when Gov. Robert Bentley resigned amid the fallout from allegations of a relationship with a top aide.
Both Republican governors are paired with Republican majorities in their state legislatures.
A Democrat will be back in charge of Illinois now that billionaire J.B. Pritzker has defeated Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner in one of the nation’s most expensive gubernatorial races ever.
Pritzker put more than $150 million of his own money into the race against Rauner, who also spent tens of millions of dollars of his own wealth.
Pritzker’s victory could restore a solid grip on government for Democrats, who already controlled both chambers of the state Legislature heading into Tuesday’s election. Rauner’s four-year term as governor had interrupted a Democratic trifecta that began in 2003.
If Democrats retain a trifecta after the 2020 elections, they would be in a position to control how boundaries are redrawn for Illinois congressional and state legislative districts after the 2020 Census.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has won re-election in what amounts to a pretty historic feat.
Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 2-1 ratio in Maryland.
But Hogan’s victory ensures Republicans will have a say in the next round of congressional redistricting after the 2020 Census. That’s important for the GOP, because Democrats used their power in the Legislature and governor’s office to draw districts to their advantage after the 2010 Census.
Republicans have held on to governor’s offices in Texas and Wyoming.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott won a second term by defeating Democrat Lupe Valdez in a race whose outcome was seldom in doubt.
In Wyoming, Republican state Treasurer Mark Gordon won election as governor over Democrat Mary Throne. Gordon will succeed term-limited Republican Gov. Matt Mead, who has held the office since 2011.
Republicans also control the legislative chambers in Texas and Wyoming, though Democrats have been trying to chip away at the GOP advantage in Texas.
Democratic Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has won a second term in office.
Bowser had been favored in the overwhelmingly Democratic District of Columbia. She defeated three challengers.
Bowser has presided over a period of relative prosperity and demographic shifts thanks to rapid gentrification. But her tenure has also been marked by a series of controversies inside the public school system over fraudulent graduation rates. Still Bowser won the Democratic primary in June with no serious opposition.
In another key race, Democratic incumbent Council Chairman Phil Mendelson was re-elected, defeating Libertarian candidate Ethan Bishop-Henchman.
Washington’s non-voting delegate in Congress, Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton, also secured a 15th term in office.
Democrats retain New York, Pennsylvania
Democrats have retained the governor’s offices in New York and Pennsylvania.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (KWOH’-moh) defeated Republican Marc Molinaro on Tuesday to win election to a third, four-year term. No Republican has won a gubernatorial race there since 2002.
In Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Wolf won a second term by turning back Republican challenger Scott Wagner.
Wolf’s victory will ensure Democrats have a role in the next round of congressional redistricting after the 2020 Census.
Redistricting has been a hot topic in Pennsylvania, where the state Supreme Court earlier this year threw out the congressional maps drawn by the Republican-led state Legislature after the 2010 Census. The high court ruled the boundaries were an unconstitutional partisan gerrymander and ordered new districts for this year’s elections.
Republican businessman Bill Lee has won Tennessee’s gubernatorial election over his Democratic challenger, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean.
Lee’s election Tuesday to a four-year term means Republicans are in a good position to retain their trifecta of power through the next round of congressional and state legislative redistricting after the 2020 census.
Republicans already hold sizeable majorities in both legislative chambers in Tennessee.
Lee will succeed Republican Gov. Bill Haslam, who was barred by term limits from seeking re-election.
Re-elected
The incumbent governors of Arkansas and Rhode Island have won re-election.
Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson defeated Democrat Jared Henderson on Tuesday to ensure another four years in the chief executive’s office for Republicans. The GOP also controls both legislative chambers.
In Rhode Island, Democrat Gov. Gina Raimondo defeated Republican challenger Allan Fung to win a second, four-year term. She will work alongside plenty of fellow Democrats, who hold commanding majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature.
First results
Republican Charlie Baker has won another term as governor in the traditionally Democratic stronghold of Massachusetts.
Mr. Baker defeated Democrat Jay Gonzalez on Tuesday following a campaign in which he touted a strong economy and his role in stabilising a state budget without broad tax increases. Mr. Baker is a moderate Republican who has frequently criticized President Donald Trump.
Polls remain open in numerous other states.
Democrats nationwide are trying to chip away at Republican control in many state capitols. The GOP entered Tuesday’s elections holding 33 governor’s offices and two-thirds of the state legislative chambers.
The Massachusetts Legislature is dominated by Democrats. But Baker’s election to a second, four-year term means Republicans will have a say when congressional and state legislative districts are redrawn after the 2020 Census.
(With inputs from AP, Reuters)
