Key takeaways from Democrats’ sweeping victory in US midterm elections

Democrats took control of Congress in Tuesday’s US midterm elections, making extraordinary gains deep in Republican territory with voters delivering a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump and his agenda. In flipping the Senate seat in South Carolina, the party also made history. Democrats have not won ‌a US Senate race there this century, and the win by Annie Andrews over Republican Senator Darline Graham became another defining upset of the night.

In the Senate race in Ohio, a state Trump won three times, Democrat Sherrod Brown prevailed, while in Kansas, Democrat Adam Hamilton easily defeated Republican incumbent Roger Marshall. Democrats last won a Senate seat in Kansas in 1932, during the Great Depression. Strategists in both parties said Democrats’ sweeping victories were fueled by ​strong turnout of party faithful and independent voters who broke their way in both swing states and Republican strongholds.

Democrats also adopted a strategy to field a candidate in every race — even those that just months ​ago appeared to be long shots.