In a day of sweeping Democratic victories, a handful of upsets have stood out as symbols of a historic midterm election and surging disillusionment with the Republican party.
In Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton won a US Senate seat — the party's first since 1932. Hamilton unseated Republican incumbent Roger Marshall in a state US President Trump had won by more than 10 points in each of his three presidential campaigns. Last week, Trump had visited Kansas for the first time since 2018 to rally support for Marshall.
In Texas, Christian progressive James Talarico won the Senate seat up for grabs in a major upset, breaking the Democratic party's 32-year losing streak in the state. Republicans spent more than $454 million to try to retain the seat, with state attorney general and close ally of Trump, Ken Paxton, running against Talarico.
South Carolina also defied history, with Democrat Annie Andrews becoming the first Democrat elected to the Senate in the state since 1998. Andrews ousted senator Darline Graham, who had been appointed earlier this year to fill the seat of her late brother, Lindsey Graham.
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"I was expecting Democrats to win but not by this much," associate professor David Smith told SBS News.
"This has been described as a generational defeat for Republicans because they've been losing today in places where they haven't lost for more than 30 years."
Smith said these Democrat wins would have been "unthinkable" at the start of the year, "let alone something like losing Texas by more than 10 points. Texas has been the absolute bastion of the Republican party for the last 30 years."
In Iowa, Democrat Josh Turek defeated Republican lawmaker Ashley Hinson, becoming the state's first Democratic senator since 2008.
In conservative and historically Republican Mississippi, Democrat Scott Colom has mounted an unexpected challenge against incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith, with the two neck-and-neck as of Wednesday evening. If elected, Colom would be the state's first Black senator since the Reconstruction era following the US Civil War.
Smith said a combination of Trump's historically low approval ratings and the cost of living crisis have driven voters to turn against the Republican party.
On the eve of the election, Trump's approval rating was hovering near his all-time lows, dragged down by deep voter frustration over the war with Iran and the resulting rise in fuel prices.
Trump had called for voters to "pretend I'm on the ballot" at rallies before the midterms. However, following the Democrats' midterm success, Trump posted to Truth Social that he "wasn't on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!"
"All through this year, people have looked at Trump, even people who voted for him, and thought, 'This guy is not focused on the right things'. Whether it's war in Iran or redecoration projects in Washington DC, he has not been focused on bringing the cost of living down," Smith said.
"I think those are the big issues that were really costing Republicans, even in their deepest heartland today."
Rural states like Kansas and Iowa have been hit particularly hard by cost of living issues, including the rising cost of diesel, fertiliser and food.
Trump gave conflicting messages to the Democrats on Tuesday: on the one hand congratulating them on their win and saying he would be willing to work with them, while also signalling he will be relying on his presidential veto power to block their legislation.
Smith said Trump had no way of seriously contesting the midterm results, considering their magnitude; however, he believes the next two years will produce a "gridlock" between the Republican president and a Democrat-majority Congress.
"I think that we're going to see two years of gridlock. Trump won't be able to advance any kind of legislative agenda through Congress, but [neither are] Democrats going to be able to get anything through because, as he said, he's going to veto them," Smith said.
"Instead, what we're going to see is Congress conducting a lot of committee hearings, a lot of attempts to really just make Trump's life hell and make life hell for Republicans by just publicly airing all of the dirty laundry of the administration."
However, in a speech to a cheering crowd at a Democrats watch party on Tuesday night, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries struck a resolute note.
"Today begins the great American comeback," Jeffries announced. "House Democrats are committed to making life better for you."
— With reporting by Agence France-Presse.
