Figure caption, Watch: Key moments from the US midterm election results
ByJames FitzGerald and Nardine SaadReporting fromLos Angeles
Democrats have won both the US Senate and House of Representatives, taking control of Congress for the rest of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Projected results have provided the party with a number of things to celebrate – and rival Republicans some reasons to commiserate.
Here is everything you need to know about some of the big Democratic wins and some historic firsts.
Democrats toast victories in deep-red Trump country
Image source, Reuters
Image caption, James Talarico, the new US senator in Texas, and Gina Hinojosa, the state’s new governor, toast their successes
Talarico’s supporters went beserk as the projected results arrived at an election-night party, wrote the BBC’s Gary O’Donoghue. Attendees hugged, kissed and drank to a reality they dared not believe would come true.
Hinojosa became the first Latina to be elected governor of the state.
Among the other states where history was made by the Democrats were Kansas, where Adam Hamilton took a closely-fought Senate seat – giving the state its first Democratic senator for nearly a century.
Senior party figures who cheered the results included Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrat in the House of Representatives, who is now poised to take over as the Speaker of the lower chamber of Congress.
“Today begins the great American comeback,” he told a crowd of supporters.
If Jeffries’ colleagues choose to keep him as the leader of their party’s delegation in House, he will be the next Speaker, taking over from Republican Mike Johnson and becoming the first black person to fill that role.
Trump congratulates opposition and acknowledges Iran and fuel prices were issues
Trump spoke throughout the evening to a number of US media outlets, striking a conciliatory tone and conceding that the Democrats did a “good job”.
He said he would accept the results and that he was looking forward to working with the opposition party – albeit he would still have the power, as president, to veto legislation that Democrats advance through Congress.
Trump distanced himself from some of the Republican candidates who contested the election, saying: “In some cases they didn’t like the candidates, and in some cases those candidates were not my friend.”
He acknowledged that the US-Israel war on Iran, which has impacted consumer prices in the US, had affected the vote. Trump argued that high fuel prices meant voters could not see how well his economy was doing “as much as they should have”, adding: “The gasoline was caused by Iran.”
El-Sayed wins US Senate race in Michigan after fellow Democrat turns on him
Abdul El-Sayed has become the first Muslim person elected to the US Senate – after claiming victory in Michigan in what was one of a handful of closely fought contests. His win means the seat stays in Democratic hands.
He defeated Republican opponent Mike Rogers, who received the surprise backing of El-Sayed’s Democratic rival in the primary contest, Haley Stevens, who changed her endorsement at the eleventh hour.
The race was one of the bitterest of the midterms. Trump invoked 9/11 and even called El-Sayed a “jihadist” without citing any evidence, prompting a backlash and accusations of Islamophobia.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption, El-Sayed triumphed in one of the bitterest contests of the midterms
El-Sayed’s supporters went wild when he took the stage to celebrate his claimed victory, wrote the BBC’s Nada Tawfik. He said: “Up until right about now, you might have noticed I always say ‘inshallah,’ or ‘God willing,’ whenever the outcome of this race was mentioned.”
He went on to say: “But today, tonight, we can turn that ‘inshallah’ into ‘alhamdulillah’. For the right-wing ops, that just means ‘praise be to God.'”
Republicans unable to win by distancing from Trump
The defeat of Susan Collins, who has served as the Republican senator for Maine for three decades, was one indicator of the scale of the Republican losses.
She was felled by Democratic candidate Troy Jackson, a logger who sought to point to his background to persuade blue-collar Mainers to vote for him.
In a statement reported by US media, Collins conceded defeat and said it had been the “honour of my life” to serve the state for 30 years.
The BBC’s Helena Humphrey described a sombre atmosphere at Collins’s watch party in the city of Maine – where the song Closing Time was played.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption, There was a sombre atmosphere at the watch party for Republican Susan Collins
Collins entered the race as one of the most vulnerable incumbent Republicans seeking re-election, and found that her tactic to distance herself from Trump did not work.
Ashley Hinson suffered the same fate in Iowa, losing that closely-fought Senate seat to Josh Turek. Hinson had slightly distanced herself from the president, urging him to end the war with Iran and breaking with him on easing beef tariffs, while at the same time defending Trump’s broader tariff policies as important.
History made by new black governors, first openly gay male senator and first Gen Z congresswoman
Among the other firsts of the night were in Florida, where Republican Byron Donalds has become the state’s first black governor, following a hearty endorsement from Trump.
Donalds, who will take over the job from Ron DeSantis, said his state was the “envy of the nation”, and that he would work to make the state more affordable.
The result was one of the few high points of an otherwise difficult evening for the Republicans.
Image source, Reuters
Image caption, A win for Bryon Donalds in Florida was one of the few high points for Republicans
In the neighbouring state of Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, won the governor’s race, becoming the first black governor and first woman to be elected to the state’s highest office.
The BBC’s Carl Nasman described ecstatic scenes as the race was projected blue. Bottoms defeated Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire businessman and healthcare executive. The state has also not had a Democratic governor for more than 20 years.
Elsewhere, Democrat Chris Pappas became the first openly gay man elected to the Senate. He celebrated on stage alongside his husband in New Hampshire.
Pappas defeated former Republican Senator John Sununu in the race, whom he thanked on Tuesday, saying: “We all owe John Sununu a big debt of gratitude for his public service for the people of New Hampshire.”
Figure caption, Watch: “I am ready to fight” – Senator-elect Chris Pappas celebrates New Hampshire win
In Colorado, Melat Kiros became the first woman elected to Congress from Gen Z – meaning those who were born between 1997 and 2012.
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