Democrats sweep into control of Congress after historic midterm victories | First Thing

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Martin Belam   Good morning. Democrats have won control of Congress in a historic and dramatic “blue wave” in the midterm elections. The results have huge implications for the remaining two years of Donald Trump’s term in office, as Democrats flipped critical Republican seats across the country and also scored a string of victories in gubernatorial races and in districts that Republicans had tried to redraw to their advantage. Democrats have so far clinched 54 seats in the Senate and 225 House seats to take control of both chambers. The full results can be found here. Rachel Leingang wrote in her analysis piece this morning: “Democrats of all stripes declared victory on Tuesday night: moderates, progressives, populists, Democratic socialists. And they won up and down the ballot. These victories will provide avenues for Democrats to hold Trump accountable and act as a functioning branch of government, something voters have said they’ve been missing in Trump 2.0.” Here are the key headlines: James Talarico won the US Senate race in Texas, breaking a 38-year drought for his party in the Republican stronghold. Troy Jackson won Maine’s Senate race, toppling the five-term Republican incumbent, Susan Collins, in one of the biggest upsets. Abdul El-Sayed, the doctor and progressive insurgent, made history in winning the closely watched US Senate race in Michigan to become the country’s first Muslim senator. Jon Ossoff, cited as a potential presidential contender in 2028, has been re-elected to the Senate in Georgia. Chris Pappas, the four-term Democratic congressman, won New Hampshire’s US Senate race, making him the first out gay man to serve in the upper chamber. Sherrod Brown will return to the US Senate, as Ohio’s voters rejected the incumbent, Jon Husted. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician who campaigned on healthcare affordability, won the race for US Senate in South Carolina, making her the first Democrat to represent the state in the Senate for more than a quarter century. The former governor Roy Cooper will be the first Democrat to represent North Carolina in the Senate in 10 years, after defeating Michael Whatley. Adam Hamilton won in Kansas to become the state’s first Democratic senator since 1932. Gina Hinojosa defeated the three-term governor Greg Abbott, shattering the Republican grip on the highest and most powerful executive office in Texas. The Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former Atlanta mayor, will become the first Black female governor in the US after winning the gubernatorial race in Georgia. Deb Haaland, the interior secretary under Joe Biden, has been elected governor of New Mexico and will become the first Native American woman to govern a US state. Rob Sand has been elected governor of Iowa. Josh Turek won the US Senate race there. Amy Acton was elected governor of Ohio after an ugly contest in which her rival Vivek Ramaswamy spent millions of dollars on deeply personal attack ads featuring her estranged mother. Xavier Becerra, the Democratic former health and human services secretary, was elected governor of California. The Republican Ashley Moody fended off a challenge from Angie Nixon, a Democratic socialist, to win Florida’s special election and retain her seat in the US Senate. The Trump-endorsed Republican Byron Donalds will be the next governor of Florida, and its first Black leader, after defeating the Democrat David Jolly. Follow our live coverage of the election results and our full midterms coverage here.

In other news … A police officer and a sniffer dog inspect an airplane. Photograph: Forta/Reuters Seven planes across Europe were searched or diverted after a series of bomb threats were made to passenger flights, prompting questions as to whether there was any coordination behind the warnings. Donald Trump has said the US will end military aid to Israel at the end of this year, in a surprise election day announcement. Babies are more likely to have heart defects from Louisiana’s areas with industrial pollution, a study has found. A US man has been charged with mailing hundreds of letters containing powder to officials before the midterms. The US Olympic and Paralympic Committee is in the advanced stages of setting up an entity to sell a stake ⁠in the commercial rights for Team USA in return for capital, ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Nasa’s Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory is expected to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere on Wednesday, burning up in the process.

Stat of the day: Design giant Canva to cut or relocate more than 1,200 jobs in major restructure Canva headquarters in Melbourne. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP Canva is cutting or relocating more than 1,200 jobs, representing 22% of its global workforce, as part of a restructure that includes laying off staff who helped build the Australian-founded design platform.

Well Actually: What is sad nipple syndrome and what causes it? Illustration: The Guardian/Getty Images In the absence of a formal clinical diagnosis, most people’s understanding of sad nipple syndrome has come from word of mouth or chatter online, but people everywhere are searching for the reason behind their sudden bursts of anguish or homesickness that can be triggered by something as commonplace as putting on a shirt.

Don’t miss this: Why tradwives are fleeing the movement – ‘I can’t undo my past, but I can warn other women’ Illustration: Peter Quinnell/The Guardian In recent years, some of the most vocal tradwives have left their husbands, renounced their religious faith and promoted financial independence. Lucy Knight seeks to find out what is behind this sudden and seismic shift.

… or this: They fell in love on The Simpsons and married in real life – meet the French Homer and Marge The Simpsons. Photograph: Fox They have brought TV’s most famous cartoon couple to life in France for the last 38 years. Philippe Peythieu and Véronique Augereau tell Hannah J Davies all about their own personal love story.

Climate check: How penguin poo is making Antarctic snow melt faster Gentoo penguins. Photograph: Eric Marsh Researchers have found that the birds’ guano feeds algal blooms that absorb significantly more solar energy. Projections of Antarctic melting do not yet take this phenomenon into account, but it could be significant, particularly as penguins move south.

Last Thing: You can even vote from space! Anil Menon onboard the ISS. Photograph: Anil Menon/Nasa/Reuters Anil Menon voted in the midterm elections by casting an electronic ballot from the International Space Station. He said he filled out the ballot on his station computer and sent it to election officials in Harris county, Texas. Here’s the video.

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Betsy Reed US editor, the Guardian Our year-end goal to defend the Guardian’s journalism We hope you appreciated this newsletter. To keep the Guardian going strong, can you join our most essential fundraising campaign of the year? Our goal is to raise $2 million by the end of the year. According to a leading global watchdog, US democracy is now more imperiled than at any point since the 1960s. Press freedom is under threat on many fronts. Most recently, Donald Trump banned CNN, MS Now and Politico from the White House, in retaliation for “negative” coverage. While a federal judge has restored White House access for now, saying the ban is likely unconstitutional, the case is still in the courts. At the same time, Trump is using the Federal Communications Commission – a supposedly independent regulator – to settle political scores: The FCC targeted ABC after Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about the First Lady, and Trump suggested that the agency should punish the host of Meet the Press for making a factual statement the president disliked. Attacks on the free press make it more difficult to get fact-based reporting. Making matters worse, many of the US’s largest news organizations are now owned by billionaires whose personal and business interests may imperil the outlets’ editorial independence. The Guardian is owned neither by a billionaire nor a corporation and remains dedicated to keeping trustworthy journalism paywall-free for the world. Despite the risks of maintaining our fierce independence, what fills us with deep gratitude is the unwavering support we’ve seen from readers. Your support not only powers our work, but more importantly, it safeguards the financial independence that underpins our editorial freedom and courage. If you can, please support us today. We’re especially grateful for anyone able to set up a monthly contribution: reliable funding is vital for sustaining us throughout this dangerous period. It takes just 37 seconds to give. Thank you for protecting the free press. Support us

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Done

Before Election Day, I want to take a moment to thank you.

Robert –

Before Election Day, I want to take a moment to thank you.

The folks who, day in and day out, do what it takes to make democracy work. Because of your grassroots support, we've been able to compete in tough races across the country this midterm season, no matter the odds.

Tomorrow, we will prove the truth at the heart of our founding once again: That in America, the Power belongs to the People.

With your help, I’ve been campaigning for Democrats across the country in the last several months. And in just the last 2 weeks, from Nevada to New Hampshire, Mississippi to Georgia, I’ve heard the same thing:

When it comes to this president — and his party — people are done.

People are done with the Republican Party’s broken promise to bring down costs on day one, especially when the cost of gas and groceries keeps going up.

People are done with the blatant corruption, trillion-dollar cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and Obamacare tax credits, and tariffs jacking up prices.

And people are done with Trump’s reckless war in Iran. A war which has killed American servicemembers. A war which, since February, has made people pay $700 more for gas. A war he intends to accelerate, but only after the midterms.

So tomorrow, let’s break records. Let’s turn out in big numbers. Let’s be too big to rig.

We are not about to wake up on Wednesday wishing we could have done a little bit more.

And this momentum cannot stop after Election Day, Robert. If you are with me in this final push and ready for progress, please make a contribution to Fight for the People PAC to kickstart our next chapter.

CONTRIBUTE

We are on the verge of reminding the world about who we are as Americans and the kind of future we all want — for our children, our grandchildren, our parents, and our community.

Let’s never let anyone tell us who we are. We will tell them who we are. We are fighters.

When we fight, we win. And when we vote, we win.

Thank you,

Kamala Harris

 

Paid for by Fight for the People PAC (fightforthepeoplepac.com) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

This email was sent to ofa@yorkteaparty.org. Thank you so much for being a supporter. But we don't want to bother you. If you’d like to unsubscribe, you can click here. You can also sign up to receive fewer emails.

Done

Before Election Day, I want to take a moment to thank you.

Robert –

Before Election Day, I want to take a moment to thank you.

The folks who, day in and day out, do what it takes to make democracy work. Because of your grassroots support, we've been able to compete in tough races across the country this midterm season, no matter the odds.

Tomorrow, we will prove the truth at the heart of our founding once again: That in America, the Power belongs to the People.

With your help, I’ve been campaigning for Democrats across the country in the last several months. And in just the last 2 weeks, from Nevada to New Hampshire, Mississippi to Georgia, I’ve heard the same thing:

When it comes to this president — and his party — people are done.

People are done with the Republican Party’s broken promise to bring down costs on day one, especially when the cost of gas and groceries keeps going up.

People are done with the blatant corruption, trillion-dollar cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and Obamacare tax credits, and tariffs jacking up prices.

And people are done with Trump’s reckless war in Iran. A war which has killed American servicemembers. A war which, since February, has made people pay $700 more for gas. A war he intends to accelerate, but only after the midterms.

So tomorrow, let’s break records. Let’s turn out in big numbers. Let’s be too big to rig.

We are not about to wake up on Wednesday wishing we could have done a little bit more.

And this momentum cannot stop after Election Day, Robert. If you are with me in this final push and ready for progress, please make a contribution to Fight for the People PAC to kickstart our next chapter.

CONTRIBUTE

We are on the verge of reminding the world about who we are as Americans and the kind of future we all want — for our children, our grandchildren, our parents, and our community.

Let’s never let anyone tell us who we are. We will tell them who we are. We are fighters.

When we fight, we win. And when we vote, we win.

Thank you,

Kamala Harris

 

Paid for by Fight for the People PAC (fightforthepeoplepac.com) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

This email was sent to alex@yorkteaparty.org. Thank you so much for being a supporter. But we don't want to bother you. If you’d like to unsubscribe, you can click here. You can also sign up to receive fewer emails.

Done

Before Election Day, I want to take a moment to thank you.

Robert –

Before Election Day, I want to take a moment to thank you.

The folks who, day in and day out, do what it takes to make democracy work. Because of your grassroots support, we've been able to compete in tough races across the country this midterm season, no matter the odds.

Tomorrow, we will prove the truth at the heart of our founding once again: That in America, the Power belongs to the People.

With your help, I’ve been campaigning for Democrats across the country in the last several months. And in just the last 2 weeks, from Nevada to New Hampshire, Mississippi to Georgia, I’ve heard the same thing:

When it comes to this president — and his party — people are done.

People are done with the Republican Party’s broken promise to bring down costs on day one, especially when the cost of gas and groceries keeps going up.

People are done with the blatant corruption, trillion-dollar cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and Obamacare tax credits, and tariffs jacking up prices.

And people are done with Trump’s reckless war in Iran. A war which has killed American servicemembers. A war which, since February, has made people pay $700 more for gas. A war he intends to accelerate, but only after the midterms.

So tomorrow, let’s break records. Let’s turn out in big numbers. Let’s be too big to rig.

We are not about to wake up on Wednesday wishing we could have done a little bit more.

And this momentum cannot stop after Election Day, Robert. If you are with me in this final push and ready for progress, please make a contribution to Fight for the People PAC to kickstart our next chapter.

CONTRIBUTE

We are on the verge of reminding the world about who we are as Americans and the kind of future we all want — for our children, our grandchildren, our parents, and our community.

Let’s never let anyone tell us who we are. We will tell them who we are. We are fighters.

When we fight, we win. And when we vote, we win.

Thank you,

Kamala Harris

 

Paid for by Fight for the People PAC (fightforthepeoplepac.com) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

This email was sent to alexanderofyork@yorkteaparty.org. Thank you so much for being a supporter. But we don't want to bother you. If you’d like to unsubscribe, you can click here. You can also sign up to receive fewer emails.