The Democrats just won a stunning victory – will it take them to the White House?

Manveen Rana (0:01)

From the Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story. I'm Manveen Rana.

Election night in the United States. The midterms will determine which party controls Congress, and the results have been historic.

SPEAKER_2 (0:20)

A blue wave has surged across America tonight.

SPEAKER_3 (0:23)

The Democrats took control of the US House and the Senate.

SPEAKER_4 (0:26)

Together, Iowa, we have proven that the impossible was possible.

SPEAKER_5 (0:32)

Thank you so much, Maine.

James Talarico (0:34)

We, we did it.

SPEAKER_2 (0:36)

Working people did it.

SPEAKER_7 (0:38)

The American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption and incompetence of the failed lame duck president, Donald J.

James Talarico (0:47)

Trump.

Manveen Rana (0:48)

Times reporters were at watch parties in Texas, Michigan, Florida, Iowa, Washington DC and Ohio, taking in the scenes of jubilation as democratic voters celebrated wins in traditionally red states where they haven't won for generations.

George Grylls (1:07)

I'm here in Austin, Texas, where the crowd is going crazy.

SPEAKER_2 (1:09)

This is probably the most electric, historic night we could have ever been a part of and witnessed. And I'm just so excited for what's to come.

SPEAKER_9 (1:19)

I really believe we're on the right side of history. And what's happening right now is we're correcting some wrongs.

Manveen Rana (1:26)

Elsewhere, Republicans licked their wounds and began the blame game.

SPEAKER_3 (1:31)

It felt a little bit like the last days of Rome. Perhaps that's an exaggeration, but certainly people were almost hysterical in the sense of kind of joking about the results.

Donald Trump (1:41)

Well, I'm a little bit surprised. I thought they'd do better. We had tremendous rallies.

SPEAKER_5 (1:45)

Just getting a reaction from the vice president, JD.

SPEAKER_7 (1:47)

Vance. He says the reason we lost is the war.

James Talarico (1:49)

The president himself said so last night.

Manveen Rana (1:54)

So what happens now? Will the newly powerful Democrats look to impeach Trump for a third time?

And with such a diverse set of Democrats winning, which direction will the party be pulled in ahead of the next presidential election in 2028? The story today. A blue tsunami sweeps America.

David Charter (2:28)

Really, from the first results coming in last night, it was clear that something pretty extraordinary was happening.

Manveen Rana (2:37)

David Charter is assistant editor at The Times based in the US and while his colleagues were out and about at events across the country on Tuesday night, he was back in Washington, DC, monitoring all the results as they came in.

David Charter (2:51)

We knew that there were a number of red states that were competitive, but I think people have grown wary of opinion polls suggesting that there will be a major change in the weather, particularly the polls that were giving Democrats the advantage in numerous states. But as the results came through, state after state and in some times, for the first time in many decades, were being captured by the Democrats in a dramatic repudiation of President Trump and his agenda.

Manveen Rana (3:28)

It has been an extraordinary set of results. Just talk us through, for you, as somebody who watches American politics up close, what were the most surprising wins for the Democrats?

David Charter (3:40)

Well, there's almost too many to mention. I've been to Maine. I didn't think that the long-serving Republican Senator Susan Collins would lose that seat. She really knows how to win. She's been there for 30 years. That was a surprise to me that the rather left-wing Democratic candidate Troy Jackson managed to defeat Susan Collins. I'd also been to Kansas during the election campaign. I did think that the novice candidate, the pastor Adam Hamilton had a really strong chance there and would possibly win because the Republican incumbent Roger Marshall is really quite unpopular in Kansas. But that was the first time since 1932 that Kansas had elected a Democratic senator.

I also went to South Carolina during the midterm election campaign and saw up close a big rally that Trump held for Darlene Graham, who was the sister of the late Senator Lindsey Graham there, who Trump had personally handpicked. And it was clear that she was struggling, I think. But Trump won that state by 18 clear points just two years ago.

And for Annie Andrews, the Democrat, to defeat her, was really one of the standout shocks of the night, I think. And then you get to Texas.

I've covered previous elections where there's been a great Democratic hope in Texas, but ultimately came up well short. But not this time. The Democrats found a pretty good candidate in James Talarico, but it wasn't even the biggest Democrat upset in Texas. Because for that state to elect its first ever Latina governor, Ingenia Hinojosa, and turf out Greg Abbott, a governor who's well entrenched, well known, pretty well liked actually. But nevertheless, he was just swept aside in this blue wave that, well, swept the country.