Five Bombshell Defeats for Donald Trump as ‘Blue Tsunami’ Seizes US Midterm Elections

Mr. Talarico, a former school teacher, has made the rising cost of living under Republican leadership a central issue of his Senate.

More than half a billion dollars were spent on both sides in the most expensive US Senate race in history, with Ms Paxton losing the race despite a super PAC that supported her campaign receiving a $158m (£117m) donation from Elon Musk.

Abdul El-Sayed won the US Senate race in Michigan, defeating Republican Mike Rogers to become the country’s first Muslim senator.

Mr El-Sayed’s victory came after a bitterly fought race during which his defenders launched a series of attacks against him.

Mr Rogers had portrayed Mr El-Sayed as a communist, criticized his stance on Israel and his Muslim faith, while Trump claimed he was a “jihadist” and suggested he would have to go through a metal detector to enter the Senate.

Mr. El-Sayed had campaigned on a platform that included universal health care and a wealth tax on billionaires, and said his opponents had chosen to split because they had no answer to the problems he said they were creating.

He also overcame controversy within his own party — with his Democratic primary rival, Haley Stevens, endorsing Mr. Rogers just two days before the election.

In a video posted on X, she said, “I’m not part of Abdul’s campaign. Who we are as Michiganders is not hate and that’s not what we’re getting out of our Democratic nominee right now. That’s why I’m supporting Mike Rogers.”

In another bitterly contested race, Democrat Amy Acton defeated billionaire Republican Vivek Ramaswamy to become governor of Ohio.

Ms. Acton became the first Democrat in two decades to win the governorship, and is the first woman to win the race.

Ohio has voted for Trump in the past three presidential elections, but chose Ms. Acton after personal attacks against her from the Ramaswamy campaign.

The campaign accused a personal attack by Ms Acton’s estranged mother, Donna Arthur, who accused her daughter of lying “her whole life”.

The ad does not include allegations by Ms Acton that her stepfather, Arthur’s husband, sexually abused her as a child. Reports previously said he left the state before a warrant could be executed and he died in 2004.

Despite the furore, the ad was defended by Trump and Vice President JD Vance, but was heavily criticized by many, including Ohio’s Republican governor Mike DeWine.

The editorial board of Ohio news outlet the Columbus Dispatch supported Ms. Acton after the ad aired, describing it as “revolting and disturbing.”

Adam Hamilton took a closely contested Senate seat in Kansas, giving the state its first Democratic senator in nearly a century.

Mr. Hamilton narrowly defeated Republican President Roger Marshall to become the first Democrat to represent Kansas in the Senate since 1932.

Mr. Marshall’s campaign suffered after reports that he sued hundreds of his patients for unpaid bills, including dozens who were arrested after missing court dates.

Farmers in the state are also understood to have urged the Democratic vote, with complaints about the high cost of tariffs following the conflict in the Middle East.

Annie Andrews defeated Republican Darline Graham to give the Democrats their first Senate victory in South Carolina this century.

After the sudden death in July of her brother, longtime Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Mrs. Graham was appointed to fill the vacant seat for the remainder of his term by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster.

Lindsey Graham was elected to the Senate in 2002 and was a longtime senator known for his hawkish foreign policy views.

But despite Darline Graham’s efforts, she failed to retain the seat in the midterm elections.

The big swing, due in part to large black voter turnout, gave Democrats their first victory in the state in 28 years.