US midterm election: historic Democratic victory on a wave of anti-Trump feeling

Last Tuesday's US midterm elections delivered historic victories for the Democratic Party across the country; election analyses show deep discontent over President Donald Trump's second term was the underlying cause of this wave.

In a post-election voter survey, only 37 percent of voters approved of Trump's performance while 63 percent disapproved. According to a Democratic pollster with more than four decades of political experience, such a broad feeling that a president has failed did not exist even in 2018 or 2006. The wave of discontent crossed even the fortifications Republicans had relied on, such as financial advantage and electoral map advantages.

The party recorded big gains in every region across House, Senate, governor and state legislature races, including significant advances among Latinos and young people who had moved to Trump in 2024. Strong Democratic Senate candidates such as Adam Hamilton in Kansas and James Talarico in Texas won, but the party also won in many places with ordinary candidates; capable Republicans such as New York's Mike Lawler, Pennsylvania's Brian Fitzpatrick and Iowa's Ashley Hinson were swept away.

In Pennsylvania the Democrats won every difficult race, with double-digit margins in the PA-7 and PA-10 districts Trump won in 2024; in suburban PA-1, Bob Harvey defeated the previously unbeatable Brian Fitzpatrick by 5 points. In Maine, Democrat Troy Jackson defeated Senator Susan Collins as 63 percent there disapproved of Trump.

In the Midwest, Democrats defeated four Republicans in strongly pro-Trump districts: Ann Wagner (MO-2), Victoria Spartz (IN-5), and Ohio's Michael Turner and Mike Carey. In the South, Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff won re-election, and Annie Andrews's Senate victory in South Carolina is seen as historic.

Texas is where every trend converged: James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton by 12 points, about 1.2 million votes - the first Senate seat Democrats have captured there since 1988. Gina Hinojosa defeated three-term governor Greg Abbott, who had outspent her many times over.

In the survey, 62 percent felt Trump prioritised his personal interests over the country's good. In every state where Democrats captured Senate seats, a majority disapproved of him, from 55 percent in South Carolina to 62 percent in North Carolina. Even in previously Republican-leaning Florida, Georgia, Arizona and Texas, 52 to 56 percent felt his immigration crackdown had gone too far.

It is too early to say whether these gains will last. But the results have broken the belief that the Republican fortresses in the 25 states that voted for Trump in all three of his presidential victories are unassailable, opening a national stage for a new generation of Democratic leaders, analysts say.