In the South, Republicans fell in some conservative strongholds for the first time in decades and lost by huge margins in swing states.
Democrats stretched their midterm map deep into the South, prevailing in Senate, House and gubernatorial races on Nov. 3 in places where they haven’t won in decades.
Republican strongholds Texas and South Carolina went Democratic, while the party’s Senate candidates romped to victory by wide margins in southern swing states Georgia and North Carolina.
In Mississippi, Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith was on defense for most of the evening in a state that elected Donald Trump by a 22-point margin back in 2024.
Democratic challenger Annie Andrews has defeated incumbent Republican Darline Graham in South Carolina’s Senate race, multiple outlets have projected, a stunning upset in a southern state that historically votes Republican.
With about 95% of precincts reporting Democrat Scott Colom, who is Black, who was ahead by a total of 28 votes in a Deep South state that hasn’t had an African-American senator since 1871 or elected a Democrat since 1982.
The victories and razor-thin margins in what’s long been considered the GOP’s impenetrable region cut through multiple states President Donald Trump carried overwhelmingly two years ago when voters swept him back into power. It will have immediate ramifications on Capitol Hill, where Democrats will retake both chambers of Congress, but could also reshape the political map and calculus ahead of the 2028 presidential election.
The Tar Heel state was the first to fall Tuesday night. Former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper defeated Republican Michael Whatley in a Senate contest many forecasters had long considered a Democratic pickup. Cooper was ahead by 20 percentage points with more than 95% of precincts reporting in the state Trump won all three times he ran for the White House.
“We have to work to make health care, housing and groceries more affordable—to end this war (in Iran),” Cooper said during a victory speech Tuesday.
He replaces outgoing Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, who retired out of frustration with the White House and repeated clashes with the president.
Shocking upset in South Carolina
One state over, Democrat Annie Andrews bested Republican Sen. Darline Graham for the South Carolina Senate seat long held by her late brother, Lindsey Graham, who died earlier this year.
Andrews, a pediatrician, was declared the winner less than three hours after the polls closed in a state that hasn’t sent a Democrat to the Senate since 1998. She was ahead by four percentage points with more than 95% of precincts reporting.
The Palmetto State is home to one the most conservative electorates in the country. Democrats have not been competitive in federal races there for decades, outside of the one majority-Black congressional district represented by Rep. James Clyburn. Voters have backed the Republican nominee for president in 13 of the last 14 elections.
The late Sen. Lindsey Graham won reelection by 10 percentage points in 2020 and GOP Sen. Tim Scott’s won by roughly 25 percentage points in 2022.
Trump pressured Gov. Henry McMaster to appoint Darline Graham to fill out her late brother’s term in July and later endorsed the political novice over a crowded field of more experience contenders, including Rep. Ralph Norman.
Democratic gains across the South
The president’s foes in Washington gobbled up victories in Georgia, too, where Sen. Jon Ossoff easily defeated U.S. Rep. Mike Collins in a Senate race where the 39-year-old senator was once thought to be the most vulnerable Democrat.
Ossoff was ahead by a gaping-wide 18-point margin with 95% of precincts reporting.
“The American people have rebuke the depravity, corruption and incompetence of the failed, lame duck president,” Ossoff said during Tuesday’s victory speech.
US Senator Jon Ossoff (D-GA) won reelection in the US midterm elections during an Election Night rally in Atlanta, Georgia, US, November 3, 2026.
The last time Democrats served as senators in all three of those states was in 1992.
The Peach State’s gubernatorial contest also went the Democrats way, electing former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms as the nation’s first Black woman governor by about 9 percentage points. She will be first Democrat elected to lead Georgia since 1998.
In Florida, Democrats won three congressional districts that were redrawn to be more favorable for the GOP in an attempt to hold the House majority.
Democrat Angie Nixon, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, lost her bid to flip a Republican-held seat by about 3 percentage points and David Jolly, who was running for governor, lost by an even slimmer margin to Republican Rep. Byron Donalds. Trump carried Florida by 16 percentage points in 2024.
Similarly, Democrats were within a 2-point margin of winning the Tennessee governor’s race and Louisiana Senate race, two states Trump won by double digits.
But the brightest spots is undoubtedly in Texas, where Democrats toppled Republicans in both the Senate and gubernatorial contests. The second most populous state after California, Texas’ 40 Electoral College votes are essential to Republican presidential victories.
Democrat Gina Hinojosa bested Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and James Talarico, a 37-year-old state legislator who skyrocketed to national prominence, defeated state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a deeply unpopular figure who Trump backed in the GOP primary over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn.
Tory Gavito, a Texas-based Democratic strategist and co-founder of Way to Win, a progressive donor network, said there were people hugging, crying and singing in the streets of Austin to celebrate Democrats wins, from James Talarico down to the state legislature.
“I don’t know what it was like to see the Berlin Wall fall, but this is a 30-year dynasty that’s fallen in Texas,” Gavito told USA TODAY.
Democrats haven’t won a Texas Senate race since 1988. The state’s last Democratic governor was Ann Richards, who served one term from 1991-1995.
Trillionaire Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk doled out hundreds of millions to boost Paxton in a race that saw $500 million in combined ad spending and future spending dating back to the primaries, according to AdImpact.
Trump won the Lone Star State by 14 percentage points but Talarico held a 12-point edge over Paxton with about 90% of precincts reporting.
“In this race we went up against our own Goliaths: The richest man in the world, the most powerful man in the world and the entire D.C. establishment,” Talarico, a Presbytarian seminary student, said during his victory speech Tuesday.
Then he told his supporters, “you were my slingshot.”
Contributing: Zac Anderson, Christopher Cann, Jay Stahl, Arit John
–usatoday.com
