US elections: Voters reject Trump and the politics which divided America

The Republican election postmortem has already pointed to a failure to talk about the issues that really mattered to American voters this year, writes Hannah McCarthy from Texas

Supporters of Democrat senatorial candidate James Talarico react to early election results during a midterm election night watch party in Austin, Texas on Tuesday. Picture: Ronaldo Schemidt/AFP/Getty

“This is going to be a Democratic tsunami right now in America. It's going to be in Texas. It's going to be all over, and I'm so excited,” said one prescient man wearing a “Texas is Talarico Country” t-shirt at the start of an election watch party in downtown Austin on Tuesday. Over the course of the evening, the large screen broadcasting CNN lit up the faces of the crowd as presenters announced Democrat wins across red states like North Carolina, South Caroline, Kansas and, of course, Texas.

The scale of the Republican losses in national and state races represented a clear rejection of both US president Donald Trump policies such as the Iran War, tariffs, and defunding Medicaid, as well as his chosen candidates who he supported largely due to their loyalty to him rather than their electability.