Democrats win Senate elections in Texas, Kansas and South Carolina — TIME
In the United States, Democrats won Senate elections in Texas, Kansas and South Carolina — states where Republicans had held an advantage for decades. As TIME reports, these results were part of the Democratic Party's broad success in the midterm elections.
In Texas, James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton by about 12 percentage points. Before this, the last time the state's voters elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate was in 1988. Democrat Gina Hinojosa also defeated incumbent Republican Governor Greg Abbott, who had held the office for more than ten years.
Democrats' successes in the states
Democrats also won a majority in the Texas House of Representatives, ending more than two decades of Republican control of the chamber. In addition, the party won all statewide races on this year's ballot and secured several seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In South Carolina, Democrat Annie Andrews defeated Republican Senator Darlene Graham. Democrat Nancy Lacore also won the state's 1st District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, surpassing Republican Jenny Costa Hunnicutt by 1.1 percentage points. In the state legislature, Democrats stripped Republicans of their supermajority in the House of Representatives.
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In Kansas, megachurch pastor Adam Hamilton defeated incumbent Republican Senator Roger Marshall. Democrats also broke the Republican supermajority in the Kansas House of Representatives, although Republicans retained a majority in the chamber and all three of the state's seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Reasons and prospects
Political scientists surveyed by TIME link the results to voter dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump's administration's policies on the economy, cost-of-living issues, foreign policy, the war in Iran and immigration policy. They also point to the role of specific candidates and long-term changes, including population growth and increasing demographic diversity in Southern states.
At the time of publication, Democrats had taken seven Senate seats from Republicans and were expected to win their largest majority in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2008. Experts caution that voters who supported Democrats did not necessarily become their permanent supporters: the states' future competitiveness will depend on the actions of both parties ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
