It is difficult to overstate the breathtaking scope of the Democratic Party’s landslide victory on Nov. 3. Democrats vastly exceeded predictions by gaining some 40 House seats, which will lift them to a majority of at least 256 seats—the most the party has won in a midterm election in 36 years, and more House seats than the Republicans have controlled since 1930. Many of these pickups were in deep red districts of staunchly Republican states like Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri, and Ohio, and in deep red districts in swing states like Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania, where Democratic candidates recorded huge vote gains. In flipping seats in deeply Republican states like Kansas, Iowa, and South Carolina, Democrats also gained at least seven U.S. Senate seats, giving them a majority of 54 (and probably 55 or 56), their largest Senate showing in more than a decade. They have also picked up six governorships, giving them a majority of at least 29 (and possibly 30)—their largest share in more than 15 years. Behind two women of color, Democrats won governorships for the first time in 28 years in Georgia and in 36 years in Texas, where the party swept all statewide electoral offices.
No less significantly, Democrats made deep gains in statewide offices and legislatures that had been beyond reach for years or even decades. Democrats also gained control of the lower house of the legislature for the first time since 2000 in Texas and 2002 in Georgia. In all, Democrats looked set to flip at least 12 state legislative houses, including both houses in the swing states of New Hampshire and Wisconsin. In the latter, they retained the governorship, giving them a “trifecta.” They also appear to have clinched trifectas in Minnesota and four other presidential swing states: Arizona (for the first time since 1966), Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania (for the first time since 1993). That would increase the number of states with full Democratic control from 16 to 22, while Republican trifectas fall from 23 to 17 or 18.
All but one of the Georgia Democrats who swept the races for statewide office are African American women, led by former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who will be the first African American woman governor in American history. Gina Hinojosa, a state legislator and civil rights lawyer, will be the first Latina governor of Texas. In Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed became the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Senate. In Minnesota, Peggy Flanagan became the first Native American woman elected to the Senate. Deb Haaland, Biden’s secretary of the interior, will be the first Native American woman governor in American history, after winning in New Mexico by nearly 15 points. She is one of at least 15 women to be elected or reelected governor on Nov. 3. The U.S. will now have the most women governors in its history, at least 17, and 18 if Cindy Holscher’s lead in Kansas holds. There will be five African American governors, also a record. And in a stunning development few saw coming, Democrat Scott Colom holds a narrow lead in the still-uncalled U.S. Senate race in Mississippi. If he wins, he will be the first African American senator in that state since 1881.
