Democrats Push Deep Into Republican Territory as Early Results Point to a Historic Night

The first real shock of the night came in South Carolina. Annie Andrews, a Democrat, beat Darline Graham, who had been appointed to the Senate seat after the death of her brother, Senator Lindsey Graham. Few analysts had that seat in play even a few months ago, and its fall helped turn what looked like a good night for Democrats into a potentially historic one.

By the time the early returns were in, Democrats had won control of the US House of Representatives, their first majority there since 2022. They were also on a path toward flipping the Senate.

The Senate picture came together in layers. Two races that a year ago were considered battlegrounds turned out to be comfortable Democratic wins: Jon Ossoff's re-election in Georgia, and the open Republican-held seat in North Carolina. In North Carolina, former Democratic Governor Roy Cooper defeated Michael Whatley, a Republican Party insider. That was the first of the four pickups Democrats need to take the chamber. With South Carolina added, they are halfway there.

Attention has now moved to the vote counts in Republican-held Senate seats in Texas, Kansas and Ohio. CBS News, the BBC's US partner, rates the Texas and Kansas Senate races as leaning Democratic. The Texas governor's race is now considered a toss-up, even though Republican incumbent Greg Abbott was a prohibitive favourite just last year.

The House results show how far the ground shifted. In Florida, Republicans in the state legislature had redrawn the boundaries of three Democratic-held seats to make them much easier for the party to win. They lost all three. Other Florida House races, where Republicans had expected comfortable margins, turned into dogfights. Elsewhere, Democrats flipped seats in western North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Kentucky, and appear positioned to make gains in Virginia and Indiana. Wins like these were what the party needed not just to take the chamber but to hold a comfortable governing majority.

The BBC's account points to turnout and shifting loyalties. Democratic turnout was high, particularly among black voters in the South. The party also appears to have won back Hispanic voters in Florida who had backed Republicans just two years ago. In majority black South Carolina counties, Andrews significantly outperformed Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential numbers. In Miami-Dade County, which Trump carried that year, Democratic candidates are back on top.

Conservatives have some consolation. Florida as a whole still appears to tilt right: Republican Senator Ashley Moody narrowly won re-election, as did congressman Byron Donalds in his bid for governor. But the state may prove to be one of the few bright spots for the party.

The mood of the electorate appears to have turned against President Donald Trump and Republicans across the board, though the BBC cautions that the US is a vast country with distinct geography and demographics, and a strong showing in the east does not automatically carry elsewhere. Early results from the heartland, however, seem to be following the east-coast pattern. What remains to be settled is how far the Democratic wave reaches, and the counts in Texas, Kansas and Ohio will say whether it reaches the Senate majority.