IT’S OVER. DONALD Trump’s stranglehold on US politics and his dominance on the national and international stage have ended. And the ending was spectacular, dramatic, historic.

Abdul El-Sayed, after one of the most vicious and openly bigoted races in US history, made history as the first Arab American Muslim elected to the US Senate. Texas elected its first Democratic Senator in almost 40 years with James Talarico – and replaced its governor Greg Abbott, a Guns ‘n God fixture of Texas politics with Gina Hinojosa, a young Hispanic woman few outside Texas had heard of six weeks ago.

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed speaks at an election night. He won the seat for the Dems. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

On and on the blue wave went, breaking ceilings and crashing through red walls. Six years ago Georgia was one of America’s deepest red states. Today it’s a distinct shade of blue; its governor-elect, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, has made history as the first black woman to be elected governor.

Senator Jon Ossoff held onto his seat by a wide margin and is widely regarded as a Democratic contender for 2028. Voters in Ohio, another red state, responded to one of the most despicable campaign ads in recent memory by electing a Democratic senator – and a Democratic governor to boot. And after 30 years, Republican veteran Susan Collins, who has proved impervious to previous reversals of political fortune, was swept away by the blue wave.

Democrat Jon Ossoff wins the Senate seat for Georgia. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The incoming tide even reached Kansas, which hasn’t elected a Democrat since 1932. The results are still coming in, but Democrats have taken control of the Senate by a wide enough margin that they don’t have to fret about the vacillations of John Fetterman.

Democrats are on course to utterly dominate the House of Representatives and Hakeem Jeffries is on course to become the first Black Speaker of the House of Representatives. He’ll have his work cut out for him to equal the job his predecessor Nancy Pelosi did during her two-decade stint at the helm. 

Plain sailing for Dems?

It feels like a new era in America, a country that has been simultaneously convulsed and transfixed by Trump’s dominance of the national political stage since 2015. Even during his brief post 2021 spell in political purdah, his starring role in the slew of investigations, court cases, convictions, appeals and dismissals that preceded his 2024 campaign ensured he was always front and centre of the political discourse.

Even relatively popular lame duck presidents – Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama – are forced to trim their sails and manage their ambitions, as both their allies, rivals and the media look past their waning presidency to the emerging crop of potential candidates.

Governor of New York Kathy Hochul celebrates on stage after winning reelection. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

The final two years of every two-term president thus far have focused on attempts to realise outstanding policy goals whilst ensuring the selection of a successor who will build on, rather than eradicate, his legacy.

George W Bush, whose disastrous handling of the war in Iraq and the US economy meant he was a near invisible presence in the waning months of his second term, was the exception.

But Trump is unlikely to go gently into the dark night of political irrelevance. While his initial reactions to last night’s voting have swung from blaming Fox News on Truth Social to sounding surprisingly concessionary on Fox News........

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