Blue Bloodbath: Democrats Triumph in Historic Midterm Election Cycle

Abdul El-Sayed brings his wife, Dr. Sarah Jukaku, onto the stage while speaking during a Democratic Party election night watch party on Nov. 4. || Photo by David Guralnick/The Detroit News/TNS

Bridget O’Rourke, Ph.D., professor and director of the writing program in Elmhurst University’s Department of English, was exhausted after her nearly 15-hour shift at a polling place, having been up since 4:30 a.m. Upon learning of the Election Day results from her husband that night, her response was brief but full of relief: “Thank God.”

Audrey Hayes, a junior at EU, similarly felt relief upon realizing what was happening — a stark contrast from how she felt following Donald Trump’s re-election to the presidency in 2024.

“Election Day felt relatively peaceful for me. I had voted early, felt confident in my decisions, and talked with my friends about our hope and predictions,” said Hayes. “When it became clear the Democrats were going to have a large majority, the relief and prosperity I felt was incredible. The idea of a balance coming back to the government was heartening and compared to how I felt in 2024, I believed for the first time in two years, we could see a positive outcome.”

Indeed, the results of the nationwide Election Day races on Tuesday, Nov. 3, indicated a nearly unprecedented victory for the Democratic Party, which will now soon claim control over both chambers of Congress — the Senate and the House of Representatives — for the remainder of Trump’s presidency, greatly limiting what the commander in chief may be able to accomplish within that time frame.

Democrats performed exceptionally well across the United States, overtaking at least seven Senate seats (specifically those of Iowa, Kansas, Maine, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas), more than 40 House seats, and a minimum of five governorships (in Georgia, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, and Texas).

Furthermore, although the Senate races in Alaska and Mississippi as well as the gubernatorial elections in Alaska and Kansas remain too close to call as of publication time, the respective Democratic nominees are favored to win all four of these positions, as of Sunday.

Democrats fared well even in traditional Republican strongholds, including Alabama, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, and Texas. Republican leaders themselves have described the results as disastrous for Republicans, particularly Trump. In fact, publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Guardian have characterized this fateful Election Day’s results as indicative of the end of Trumpism.

“To call it a wave, I don’t think would be fully accurate,” said Florida Gov. DeSantis during a press conference in Tallahassee. “It’s the political equivalent of a meteor strike that went all around the United States, blue states, red states, everything in between.”

Even DeSantis’ home state was not immune from what has been dubbed by media outlets and political figures alike as a “blue tsunami,” with Republican Byron Donalds ultimately narrowly winning the governor’s race but nearly losing to Democratic nominee David Jolly, a former Republican himself, with Donalds’ margin of victory being less than 1.5% and just over 100,000 votes out of more than 8 million votes cast.

Likewise, Republican candidate and former Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody defeated Democratic opponent Angie Nixon in the race for Senate by a much slimmer margin than projected by most polling, winning by less than 3% and fewer than 250,000 votes, more than 8 million of which were cast for this election.

Nevertheless, for the most part, these small but expected victories in Florida remain the only bright spots for Republicans this Election Day cycle.

Tuesday night was also a night of many firsts, including Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms of Georgia becoming the first Black woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed of Michigan becoming the first Muslim to be elected to the Senate, Democrat Chris Pappas of New Hampshire becoming the first openly gay man to be elected to the Senate, and Democratic Socialist Melat Kiros of Colorado becoming the first Gen Z woman to be elected to Congress (as well as the second Gen Z member of Congress overall, after Democrat Maxwell Frost of Florida).

Milestones occurred even in ruby red regions, with Democrat Allison Montgomery, a transgender woman, winning the race to represent Alabama’s 25th House District as the state’s first trans lawmaker, despite Trump having won the district in the 2016, 2020, and 2024 presidential races.

“I’m going to work especially hard for those who hate me, because they deserve a better Alabama as much as anyone,” Montgomery wrote in a Nov. 3 statement on her website following her victory. “And if you don’t believe me– just watch :)”

For Hayes, the biggest win of the evening was North Carolina flipping from red to blue. “My best friend and platonic soulmate lives there, so seeing an entire community turn out and pick a candidate they believed in against the standard was amazing,” she said. “The sheer turnout of people voting in the midterms shocked me in a good way.”

Hayes also reflected on what changes she’s hoping to see within the next two years.

“I’m looking forward to seeing how a balanced system can combat the partisan issues created under the Trump administration. An actual fight against the Epstein files or a push against the corruption of ICE’s illegal kidnappings and surveillance is something I hope to see,” said Hayes. “This election has been a sigh of relief for so many people. I’ve noticed that those disappointed in the results tend to lean heavily towards one side and push for MAGA supremacy, so this is hopefully a step in the right direction to steer from autocracy.”

O’Rourke, who teaches a course in rhetoric at EU, observed that candidates such as El-Sayed and Democratic Senator-elect from Texas James Talerico performed well by presenting themselves as relatable to voters.

“The Democrats have failed in that we’ve allowed the Republicans to take the moral high ground, which is ridiculous,” O’Rourke said. “It’s a hand up, not a handout.” She added, “Personal responsibility is about giving people the resources that they need to contribute, and not expecting people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps if they don’t have any boots.”

O’Rourke, who sees this Election Day’s results as both a “watershed moment for LGBTQ” and “a rebuke to the anti-DEI agenda,” said that despite their resounding successes in the midterms, Democrats have no shortage of work ahead of them after two years of Republican control of Congress.

“It’s hard to feel any joy about it, about the outcome, because of how much has really been lost,” said O’Rourke. “But there is hope.”