(AFP) – Democrats notched a string of early victories in US midterm elections Tuesday, flipping a Republican-held Senate seat and making inroads in conservative House districts as President Donald Trump faced the prospect of a bruising election setback. The opposition party also retained key Senate seats, while victory in Georgia’s governor race added to mounting signs that Republicans face a difficult night.
The vote was a nationwide judgment on Trump’s turbulent second term, with discontent over living costs, tariffs, and the US war against Iran – which has driven fuel prices sharply higher – weighing on the president and his party. Alarm bells went off early for Republicans as counting started. Democrats captured a Republican-held House seat in North Carolina, in a district Trump won comfortably in 2024, while several contests in Florida suggested that redrawn electoral boundaries might not deliver the gains Republicans had hoped for.
Although control of Congress remained undecided, those results raised the possibility of a wider Democratic advance into territory normally considered safe for Trump’s party. In a further blow to Republicans, former Atlanta mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms was projected to win Georgia’s governorship, becoming the nation’s first Black woman governor and ending 24 years of Republican rule. There were important Republican victories, however. In Florida, Trump-backed Byron Donalds won the governor’s race, becoming the state’s first Black governor, while Republican Ashley Moody retained a US Senate seat.
– Senate breakthrough – Democrat Roy Cooper, a popular former North Carolina governor, delivered one of the night’s most consequential results by defeating Michael Whatley, the former Republican National Committee chairman handpicked by Trump. North Carolina has voted for Trump three times, but Cooper campaigned on a pledge to lower living costs and will replace retiring Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who had clashed with the president.
In Georgia, Senator Jon Ossoff, a rising Democratic figure seen as a potential 2028 presidential contender, defeated his Republican challenger and preserved a seat the party needed to defend. Democrats also held an open Senate seat in New Hampshire, where Chris Pappas won election to become the first openly gay man to serve in the chamber. Republicans began the night with 53 of the Senate’s 100 seats, leaving Democrats needing a net gain of four for control. All 435 House seats were contested, with Democrats needing to flip just three. House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries told reporters the country was “on the brink of a dramatic change of direction.”
– Trump faces constraints – If Democrats capture the House, they could block Trump’s legislative plans and use congressional committees to investigate his administration over the Iran war, deportations, and alleged corruption. A Senate takeover would go further, allowing them to block judicial nominees and senior administration appointments, fundamentally changing Trump’s ability to govern during the final two years of his presidency.
For voters, the fight was often about the cost of everyday life. “Rent, groceries, utility bills, and property taxes keep climbing, and I want people in Congress who will actually do something about costs,” 24-year-old Los Angeles voter Taylor Cook told AFP. Trump defended his record in a final television appearance Tuesday, praising his tariffs, immigration crackdown, and military campaign against Iran. “We have to keep America great. We’re great now. We were terrible two years ago,” the 80-year-old told Fox News.
Reflecting Trump’s rhetoric, Republican voter Maru Restrepo, 70, told AFP in Miami that Democrats had become “very socialist,” reflecting the fierce ideological divisions of the campaign. Uncertainty remained over whether Trump would accept an unfavorable result. He has repeatedly made unsubstantiated claims of election fraud and tried to overturn his 2020 presidential defeat. “I veto everything,” Trump said in a podcast released Monday, contemplating the possibility of a Democratic Congress before adding that he might eventually negotiate deals.
ft/sms – Frankie Taggart with Greg Walton in Detroit and Elodie Soinard in Atlanta
© 2024 AFP
