US midterms bring historic firsts as Democrats win the Senate

The United States midterm elections have produced a string of historic firsts, with Democrats winning control of the Senate and expected to take the House of Representatives, giving them control of Congress from next year for the first time since 2022.

Americans voted on Tuesday 3 November for all 435 members of the House, 35 Senate seats, 39 governors and thousands of state and local offices. Results continued to come in overnight and into Wednesday.

A first Muslim senator

In Michigan, Dr Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat with a background in public health, defeated the Republican former congressman Mike Rogers in the race for an open Senate seat, according to the Associated Press. Time magazine reported that his victory makes him the first Muslim elected to the United States Senate.

The seat became open when the Democratic senator Gary Peters retired, and Michigan was one of the most closely watched contests of the night: Donald Trump carried the state by two percentage points in 2024.

El-Sayed, 42, is the son of Egyptian immigrants and was born and raised in suburban Detroit. The campaign was a bitter one, and divisions over the Middle East featured heavily on both sides.

Seats won after decades

The Guardian reported that Democrats won in several states where they had not had success in years or decades. Kansas had not sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1932, and Texas not since 1988. In South Carolina, 38 years had passed since a Democrat won a Senate race, and in Iowa and North Carolina it had been 18 years.

As of Wednesday morning, Democrats had won 54 Senate seats and Republicans 42, with counting continuing in Alaska. Republicans held on to seats in many southern and midwestern states, including Florida, where Ashley Moody was re-elected, and Louisiana, where Julia Letlow won the open seat, though the Guardian noted both margins were narrower than the party is used to.

What happens next

The new Congress, the 120th, will be sworn in at the start of January. Control of both chambers gives the majority party the power to set the legislative agenda, and the Senate's role in confirming appointments to the cabinet and federal courts means the result will shape the rest of President Trump's term.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer told supporters in Washington: "We have five words for the American people: relief is on the way."

Why it matters in the UK

The United States is the UK's largest single trading partner and closest security ally, and decisions taken in Washington on trade, defence and the conflict in the Middle East affect prices and jobs here, including for Birmingham's many exporters and manufacturers.

Final results in some close races may take several days to confirm.