Democrats win US House in midterms that also elect several firsts

Democrats take the House

Democrats won the House majority in the midterm elections held on Tuesday, 3 November. Süddeutsche Zeitung reported the Democratic majority before the last polling stations on the West Coast had closed, calling the win clear. Losing seats in midterms has long been the pattern for the party of a sitting president in the United States, but Süddeutsche Zeitung argued that Republicans miscalculated with redrawn electoral districts. Le Monde described the result as an electoral tsunami for the Democrats, and a commentary in the same paper judged the midterms a serious brake, though not a halt, on unrestrained Trumpism.

Firsts on the ballot

The New York Times counted several winners who broke barriers: the first Muslim senator, the first Black woman elected governor of any state, the first openly gay male senator, the first Black governor of Florida, and the first elected Hispanic governors in Texas and California. Its analysis notes that the candidates rarely pitched their identities to voters. Most of them instead ran on household finances that had become hard to manage, an unpopular war and corruption. Ten years earlier, when Donald Trump first came to power, Hillary Clinton campaigned with slogans such as 'Stronger together' and 'I'm with her', and diversity was presented as a value voters should embrace. The newspaper reads the shift as a change in the politics of identity, with voters showing less interest in symbolism for its own sake.

What voters wanted

According to the New York Times, millions of Black, Hispanic and Asian voters have moved between the two parties in search of leaders who would improve their material conditions. In a period of stagnating wages and wealth, many Americans appear to have concluded that representation alone was not enough. They pressed for lower health care bills, higher-paying jobs and the chance to buy a home. The paper argues that these demands shaped how the winners campaigned.

Musk, religion and Texas

Le Monde reported that Elon Musk's money was not enough to keep Texas in the Republican column. Musk, described by Le Monde as the richest man in the world, responded on X with a joke that his space lasers meant to interfere in the elections had not worked this time. A separate Le Monde analysis said the Democrats ended the Republican monopoly on the religious question, describing religion as one unexpected factor behind the Republican defeat. The same article framed the night as an election of exceptional scale, with the Republican setback spread across several issues.

Europe and trade

European commentators, as relayed by Courrier international, welcomed the Democratic win with a wave of relief. Die Zeit argued that the result will not end trade tensions between the United States and Europe, since tariffs on EU exports are unlikely to be lifted. Democrats could in theory disrupt the president's trade policy, but Die Zeit said Canada and Mexico would be the first beneficiaries, because American companies are closely tied to those two countries. It also noted that tariffs on EU cars draw broad support even on the American left. In France, LesEchos ran an editorial questioning why French voters remain drawn to populism, pointing to Trump's stinging defeat as proof of its failure abroad.