With such a divisive President in office and constant political turmoil tumbling from the White House's walls, it was clear to see that these midterm elections would be a crucial test for the Trump administration. As results have been made public throughout the morning, Democrats have cautiously celebrated victories which have given them back a majority in the House. Although, there has been a widespread disappointment in Democrat circles that a so-called 'blue wave' did not appear to minimise Republican power radically. Instead, the Republicans have managed to increase their hold on the Senate and can be satisfied that recent political turbulence in the US has not harmed their party's chances too dramatically.
Elections heralded for an increase in diversity
These elections have broken records in terms of the diversity of new office holders elected. Before votes were even cast, it was known that more women and individuals from the LGBTQ community were running for office than ever before. This is significant for the US not least because of some of the polarising rhetoric which is often heard coming from President Trump's administration. We now know that a record number of women have been successful in being elected to the House, which is just one indication of how the make-up of America's political elite is changing.
Two female Democrats have also made history by being the first Native American women ever elected to Congress.
Sharice Davids of Kansas and Debra Haaland of New Mexico have both made their marks on history, and indigenous communities will be celebrating this landmark victories.
The first Muslim women have also been elected to the House, as Rashida Tlaib found victory in Michigan and Ilhan Omar was elected in Minnesota.
A modest success for the Democrats
In the run-up to these elections, commentators were predicting a very high turnout of voters, spurred on by recent influxes of voter registration campaigns by activists groups and the divisive figure of Donald Trump in the White House. In terms of early voting, these midterms have already broken records for the volume of ballots turned-in.
Although we will not know for another few days the full scale of voters, predictions from pollsters are telling us that the number of voters have surged in comparison to the last midterm elections in 2014.
The current political atmosphere in the US has provoked widespread debate and an increase in political engagement, especially visible amongst the younger generation. While the Democrats hoped that this would lead to rampant blue victories, they may be a little disappointed by the modest reality. Republicans still held on to most of the positions they already held and many far-right figures, who are cast in the image of Donald Trump, were elected. Ted Cruz was a prominent example of a far-right politician being re-elected in Texas whilst new office-holders who have been outspoken in their support of the President also managed to succeed in their election bids, such as Katie Arrington in South Carolina and Ron DeSantis in Florida.