(AFP) – Democrats stormed back to power in Congress and governors’ mansions across America in Tuesday’s midterm elections, a stunning repudiation of Donald Trump’s political agenda. These are the numbers that tell the tale of a historic night.
– **Record turnout** – Total turnout numbers were not in yet, but Americans cast more than 61.7 million votes even before election day, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. That figure, a runaway record for early voting in US midterms, undoubtedly boosted Democrats, who traditionally cast their ballots early more often than Republican voters. The numbers showed large turnout among African Americans, young people and other groups that typically support Democratic candidates, National Public Radio reported. The surge contributed to a wave election, with Democrats running the table on key races and seizing control of both chambers of Congress.
– **Record fundraising** – Total spending for the 2026 midterms soared to a record $11.9 billion, substantially higher than the $8.9 billion racked up in 2022, according to OpenSecrets, a non-partisan authority on spending in US politics. Campaign fundraising and ad buys jumped in the 2026 races, driven by the outside spending of so-called political action committees. Such outside spending, led by Trump’s mega-billionaire ally Elon Musk, favored Republicans by some $360 million. But Democratic candidates proved adept at raising their own funds. House and Senate candidates spent an unprecedented $3.7 billion from their campaign warchests, with Democrats outspending Republicans by $800 million, according to OpenSecrets. In Texas, Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico broke records by bringing in a staggering $145 million, several times the $22 million raised by his Republican rival Ken Paxton, who was forced to rely on outside groups to fund his campaign.
– **First wins in decades** – Ninety-four years ago was the last time Kansas sent a Democrat to the US Senate. But on Tuesday night, Adam Hamilton unseated Republican incumbent Roger Marshall. Hamilton, the pastor of a Methodist megachurch who was registered as a Republican until recently, became the first Democrat to win a Senate race in the largely rural, conservative state since 1932. Texas also went blue for the first time in decades, with Talarico scoring a massive upset to flip a Senate seat in the Lone Star State for the first since 1988 — the year before Talarico was born. South Carolina also defied history, ousting Senator Darline Graham, who had been appointed earlier this year to fill the seat of her late brother Lindsey Graham, in favor of Democrat Annie Andrews. No South Carolina Democrat had been elected to the Senate since 1998.
– **Young voters, Latinos turn away** – Young men and Latino voters — two segments of the American electorate crucial to Trump — turned sharply away from the president and his Republican Party, exit polls showed. Hispanic voters had helped bring Trump to power in 2016 and were instrumental in his victory in 2024, when they only narrowly went to Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential election, 51 percent to 48 percent, according to Pew Research. But in recent weeks, several Latino voters have expressed anger at Trump, saying they felt betrayed. It showed in NBC News exit polls on Tuesday, when Latino voters backed Democratic candidates by 62 percent to 35 percent over Republicans. Young voters also soured on Trump. NBC News reported that its exit polls showed 18-29-year-olds, men and women, voted for Democrats by a 72 percent to 25 percent margin. That is a sharp shift from 2024 when young voters were split between Trump and Harris.
mlm/sms – Michael Mathes
© 2024 AFP
