US midterm election results: takeaways so far

US midterms: The expected 'red wave' is nowhere in sight, but Republicans have still managed to dent Democrats. Meanwhile, LGBTQ+ candidates have made history. Here's all you need to know

An "I Voted" sticker is stuck to a person's shirt on Election Day, Nov. 8, 2022, in Boise, Idaho. (AP)

5 min readNew DelhiNov 10, 2022 04:08 PM IST First published on: Nov 9, 2022 at 09:53 PM IST

The US midterm elections that were held on Tuesday (November 8) will decide whether the Democrats or Republicans will take control of Congress for the remaining part of President Joe Biden’s four-year term in the White House. While the Republicans have an edge according to current results, their expected sweeping victory is nowhere in sight. With votes continuing to be counted, we provide some early takeaways.

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US Midterms: No Republican red wave

The massive ‘red wave’ that Republicans and analysts had predicted would splash across the US — in light of high inflation rates and President Biden’s low approval rating — came as a whimper rather than a bang. Conceding that his party’s results by Tuesday night were not up to mark, Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham told NBC, “Definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure.”

While the Republican Party is still likely to take over the House of Representatives (lower chamber), the Democrats put up a strong defence. Early results and predictions have shown that they outperformed expectations and won in a number of states, such as Pennsylvania, where Democrat John Fettermen defeated Republican candidate Mehmet Oz. Anger among the electorate over the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the nationwide right to abortion helped the Democrats curb their losses, the Associate Press reported.

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Democrats damaged

Democrats have sustained some significant losses, however — important Democratic leaders Stacey Abrams and Beto O’Rourke lost their gubernatorial races in Georgia and Texas respectively.

Historically, the party in power almost always loses the first midterm elections. However, the likely Republican victory in the House will nonetheless hit the Democratic Party and the remainder of Biden’s tenure hard, especially when the country is divided as never before, with many Republican voters and leaders echoing former President Donald Trump’s false claim that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen.

House Republicans have said that if they take control of congressional committees, they will investigate Biden and his administration, rather than the probes led by Democrats into the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. They have also called for a reversal of Biden’s policies, such as greater fiscal restraint, crackdown on illegal immigration and increased domestic energy production, the Associated Press reported.

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Some Trump-endorsed candidates fail to meet mark

Former President Donald Trump continues to be an influential figure among the Republicans, and according to calculations by The Washington Post, 291 of the 569 party’s candidates have questioned or refuted Biden’s 2020 presidential victory. While a number of election deniers have, or are on track to win, Democratic Party candidates were able to fend off Trump-backed nominees in Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Hampshire.

In Georgia, Democrat Raphael Warnock held a small lead over Trump-backed Republican nominee Herschel Walker on Wednesday, however since he did not pass the 50 per cent mark, two will face each other in a run-off.

DeSantis’ growing popularity

While Republican candidates did not perform as well as expected overall, this was not the case in Florida. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ massive victory margin of almost 20 percentage points over his Democrat challenger shows that the former swing state is increasingly turning red.

DeSantis, who had won the gubernatorial race in 2018 by only around 30,000 votes, won again in Tuesday’s election and secured six counties for the Republican party, the same counties carried by Biden two years ago, the Associated Press reported.

The Florida leader’s impressive victory has raised speculations that he might be the one to lead the Republican Party forward, possibly challenging Trump who has hinted at running the presidential race in 2024. Trump is aware of the rising power of DeSantis, calling him “DeSanctimonious” at a recent rally.

Historic victories

Democrat candidate Wes Moore made history by becoming the first Black governor of Maryland, and is the third Black person to ever be elected to the post of governor in US history. Democrat candidate Aruna Miller on Wednesday became the first Indian-American candidate to hold the office of the Lieutenant Governor in the state of Maryland.

Republican candidate Sarah Huckabee Sanders will become the first woman governor of Arkansas. Sanders served as Trump’s White House press secretary from 2017-2019 and is the daughter of Arkansas’ former governor Mike Huckabee.

Two LGBTQ candidates also emerged victorious in the elections. Democrat Maura Healey has been projected to win the Massachusetts gubernatorial race, and is expected to become the first woman to be elected governor of the state, and first openly lesbian governor in the country’s history. Democrat James Roesener is also the first transgender man to be elected to any state legislature in the US, after he won a seat in the New Hampshire state legislature.