Anthony Zurcher: Democrats tear up Trump's political map with historic midterms victories

Democrats have torn up Donald Trump's political map on a night that will send shockwaves through American politics for years to come.

With a string of major Senate victories in states that have been reliably Republican for decades - and in Kansas's case, nearly a century - a blue tidal wave crashed across the nation, sweeping Republicans out of power.

Halfway through President Donald Trump's second term, the Democrats now have decisive control of the House of Representatives and have wrested a majority back in the Senate.

They will be able to frustrate Trump's agenda, and launch investigations into his administration. A historic third impeachment attempt could also be on the cards.

Few imagined such an outcome was possible in the months after President Donald Trump returned to the White House with unified Republican control of Congress in January 2025.

As the public mood turned against Trump and his party, Democrats had hopes of retaking the House, but they contemplated a Senate map that appeared unfriendly, populated by states Trump had won comfortably just two years ago.

Instead, Democrats rewrote the political equations with victories in Texas, Maine, Kansas, Ohio, Iowa and North and South Carolina.

In comments to the BBC's US partner CBS, Trump pledged to strike deals with congressional Democrats, adding that he didn't want to have to spend the final two years in office rejecting Democratic-backed legislation.

He somewhat undermined that sentiment later, posting a picture to Truth Social of his trademark red baseball hat with the word "veto" emblazoned on it.

The president went on to note that his name wasn't on the ballot this year, but if it had been Republicans would have won a decisive victory.

Trump had spent the past month barnstorming for those Republican candidates, however, and had urged voters to pretend he was up for re-election.

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In the Senate, Democrats flipped at least six seats, comfortably securing a majority.

Adam Hamilton won Kansas' Senate seat - a state that last elected a Democrat to the Senate almost 100 years ago during the Great Depression.

James Talarico beat Republican Ken Paxton in the Senate race, ending a 38-year Democratic losing streak in statewide elections there.

Five-term Republican Susan Collins has conceded Maine's Senate election to Democrat Troy Jackson.

Paralympian Josh Turek flipped the Iowa Senate seat held by Republican Senator Joni Ernst. Democrats also flipped a Republican Senate seat in Ohio, with Sherrod Brown's comeback victory over Jon Husted.

Meanwhile, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed was on course to beat Republican Mike Rogers in Michigan's bitterly fought Senate race.

They also won governor's races and control of legislatures in states that are likely to be key battlegrounds in the 2028 presidential race.

In one seismic result, Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa ousted the incumbent Republican Greg Abbott from the Texan governor's mansion. Earlier this year he was seen as the overwhelming favourite.

Meanwhile, the Democrats have won a House majority for the first time since 2022 and are projected to win at least 239 House seats and the Republicans at least 161 seats.

A look at the key races offers plenty of reasons why.

In Florida, Republicans in the state legislature had redrawn the boundaries of three Democratic-held seats to make it much easier to for them to win.

They lost all three.

Democrats also flipped seats in western North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Kentucky and Colorado, among others. And they were poised to make gains in Virginia and Indiana.

These are the kinds of victories Democrats needed not only to win control of the chamber, but to give them a comfortable governing majority.

They did it on the back of high Democratic turnout, particularly by black voters in the south, and winning back Hispanic voters in Florida who had backed Trump just two years ago.

If there is a silver lining for conservatives, Florida as a whole still appears to tilt to the right.

Republican Senator Ashley Moody narrowly won re-election, as did congressman Byron Donalds in his bid for governor. But the Sunshine State proves to be one of the few bright spots.