Individual attendees described costs, identity and party conflict
Supporters of both parties packed union halls, hotels, bars and arts venues from Anchorage, Alaska, to Bangor, Maine, while Brooklyn Democratic socialists held a group jog. The congressional result came after what The Wall Street Journal described as a midterm cycle marked by “record ad spending and relentless political attacks.” The outlet said Democrats took control of both chambers and called the election “the first nationwide referendum on President Trump’s second term.” Voters took their views on the Iran war, economy and data centers to the ballot box, while people in rooms decked with balloons cheered and gritted their teeth over America’s balance of power.
Economic pressure and resource concerns shaped reactions
In Georgia, Maryline Blackburn, 65, of Smyrna, an Atlanta suburb, said, “People were fed up,” and, “The cost of living is crazy.” Her friend Rita Love Owens, also 65, of Atlanta, said voters were angry about what they saw as corruption in the Trump administration.
The Wall Street Journal said many working-class voters had swung right since Trump first won in 2016, making Bob Brooks, one of four Democrats targeting Republican-held House seats in Pennsylvania, a test of whether the party could win them back. Brooks, a goateed former firefighter without a college degree, campaigned as someone who related to the economic struggles of working-class voters. Hundreds gathered at an arts center across from the towering former Bethlehem Steel plant and cheered when Brooks ousted incumbent Republican Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania’s 7th District. The other three Democrats also won their House races.
Jody Weinreich, 77, wore a red plastic firefighter helmet and had worked in garment factories in the Allentown area for nearly 40 years. “He grew up poor, and he understands where we’re coming from,” she said. She said she hoped Democrats would provide a check on President Trump. “Somebody has got to rein him in fast,” she said.
Resource regulation also surfaced as an economic concern in Alaska. The report introduced another attendee at Dan Sullivan’s watch party as Bob Harr, who sat slumped in a chair under a giant chandelier while nursing his beer. Harr worried the damage was already done with an imminent Democratic takeover of Congress. The report later attributed his remarks to Barr, 69, who runs a rare-earth mineral mine in Alaska: “I’m very concerned about regulations over resource development here in the United States. I’m also concerned about pipelines.”
Party conflict and identity tested candidate loyalties
Paxton’s election-night watch party was already light and thinned as the results rolled in. A few dozen people, many wearing red cowboy boots and MAGA hats, milled around a hotel ballroom, sipping drinks and eating popcorn near a cannon that symbolized Paxton’s Texas Revolution-themed campaign. Paxton supporters expressed no regret for helping nominate him over longtime Sen. John Cornyn, whom GOP leaders had thought would be in a better position to win. Corinne Greene, a business owner from nearby Keller, blamed Republican infighting for the weak showing but said she was glad Cornyn had lost the primary. “The uniparty has got to go—one way or another,” Greene said.
Few contests had drawn as much national attention as the race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers for the Michigan Senate seat. The race was jolted in its final days when Rep. Haley Stevens, El-Sayed’s former primary rival, reversed course and endorsed Rogers. At a watch party convened by Michigan Democrats in downtown Detroit, hundreds of supporters in a former department store-turned-event space cheered as Democratic results came in. As they waited for returns in the Senate race, optimism was tempered by nerves; some said they felt as if they could throw up at any moment. The prospect of El-Sayed becoming the nation’s first Muslim U.S. senator, supporters said, made the outcome feel all the more consequential.
Dr. Hazem Tabbaa, a 42-year-old physician in suburban Detroit, said Republican attacks on El-Sayed’s faith and background strengthened the resolve he and other Muslims felt to embrace their identities more openly. “In a way, this has made us unashamedly Muslim,” Tabbaa said. “This is our country, and we feel entitled to be here and entitled to everything that Americans should be entitled to.”
Supporters of Rogers crowded into a hotel ballroom and ate chicken and waffles. As the night dragged on, some partygoers bit their nails and stared into space, while others clutched wine glasses or sat on the floor, slouched against the wall. Some supporters lamented that high prices and the Iran war were hurting Republicans, and none could stop talking about Stevens. “I’m surprised that the socialists are getting the support that they are,” said Kevin Schierlinger, a 71-year-old former dentist. “I wish this war would get done with.” By 11 p.m., as more Democratic wins flashed across the screen, the Rogers ballroom slowly began to empty. “I’m tired,” said Harry Morris, an 86-year-old retiree. “People are very shortsighted in this country, I’m afraid.”
Democratic socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, who pulled off an upset in New York’s congressional primaries in June, reached Congress on Tuesday. At a jubilant party for the candidate, signs saying “When We Organize, We Win” and “Free Palestine” decorated the brick walls of the tavern. DSA members chanted “tax the rich” and danced throughout the night. Yahna Watkins, a 31-year-old DSA member, said she was “happy to see people starting to turn around.” She repeated, “You can’t argue with people’s pockets.” Near the end of the night, Avila Chevalier asked her supporters, “Who won tonight?” The crowd responded, “We did.” When she asked, “And who will govern tomorrow?” hundreds of DSA members shouted back, “We will!”
State and congressional results shifted the mood
Supporters at Democrat James Talarico’s watch party celebrated from the moment CNN projected the candidate as the winner of the Texas Senate race over Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Groups of family and friends hugged, and several could be overheard expressing how stunned they were to see Democrats finally win a statewide race for the first time in more than 30 years. The loud cheers and tears from some grew when moments later CNN projected Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa had beaten three-term Gov. Greg Abbott.
Kristen Lucio, 47, said, “I knew we won from the start of the night.” She added, “You can have Elon Musk and Donald Trump come and campaign for you and give you millions of dollars, but this was about a movement much bigger than them.”
Georgia’s Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff cruised to re-election, beating Republican Mike Collins by more than 20 percentage points. At a boisterous event for Democrats, partygoers shouted with joy for Ossoff and for Keisha Lance Bottoms, who became the first Black woman elected governor in U.S. history. Democrats also won Georgia’s secretary of state, attorney general and lieutenant governor races.
The mood was different at a Dunwoody, Ga., hotel, where guests began leaving a watch party for Republican Mike Collins as the sound system played the Rolling Stones song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” Around 9 p.m., a scream went up at the Eatalia Pizza Pasta & Grill: the MAGA crowd had just received good news that Fox News had called the Florida governor’s race for Republican Byron Donalds. “Thank God for little miracles,” one woman cried. The overall mood was less upbeat at the party for Republican state Rep. Meg Weinberger; she lost her race to a Democratic challenger.
When NBC News anchors announced at 7:35 p.m. local time in Anchorage that Democrats had won control of the House and Senate, a Democratic watch party downtown burst into cheers and whistles, and one person shouted, “Oh, f— yes!” Janice Banta, a retired social worker, said, “The whole world is turning blue,” while remaining cautiously optimistic about Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s chances.
At a watch party for Peltola’s rival, Sen. Dan Sullivan, the 150 or so attendees ate from a buffet including fried shrimp and chicken skewers and nursed drinks while awaiting results. Sullivan came on stage to announce it might be a long night. “It’s a little depressing out there,” he said, “but we don’t think that blue wave is going to crest up in Alaska.”
Sen. Susan Collins watched a slow trickle of votes at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor. Many supporters, especially those from upstate who said they knew Collins or her family personally, maintained well into the night—after the lobster tartare ran out—that there was next-to-no chance of the five-term senator losing to Democrat Troy Jackson, a logger and former state Senate president.
The upbeat mood faded as Jackson started pulling ahead, especially along the coast. The television in the ballroom switched from CNN to Fox News, and the cash bar quieted. South Portland volunteer Amy Spear, 69, said “Auburn?!” when hearing that Jackson had seemingly flipped the state’s fifth-largest town, where Collins had won by eight points in 2020. Spear questioned whether the result reflected the area’s large Somali population, which had been the subject of attacks by Republicans. After midnight, Collins conceded to Jackson, ending her five-term run in the Senate.