An evening full of surprises in the United States. The Democrats signed a clear victory on Tuesday with a majority acquired in both houses of the American Congress during the mid-term elections which turned into a disaster for Donald Trump and the Republicans. This shift in the two chambers of Congress, still unimaginable a year ago, is historic. These Democratic-friendly elections highlighted rising party stars and historic victories.
20 Minutes invites you to discover in images these victorious candidates who are marking the history of their party and the United States.
He is perhaps the greatest symbol of the Democrats' victory. “Michigan, we did it!” “, declared doctor Abdul El-Sayed, who will become the first Muslim senator of the United States, during a speech in Detroit on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. The end of the campaign of this son of Egyptian immigrants was marked by the unexpected rallying of Democratic representative Haley Stevens, whom he had beaten in the primaries, to his Republican opponent Mike Rogers.
Donald Trump and his supporters have increased attacks against him, accusing him and his family in particular of maintaining links with the Muslim Brotherhood and the jihadist organization Al-Qaeda. Calling him “Mohammed,” the American president designated him as “a terrorist sympathizer.” A campaign in vain for the losing Trump camp. In addition to being the first Muslim in the Senate, he must also become the first Democratic doctor to sit in this chamber since 1969.
The resounding re-election of Jon Ossoff, not yet 40, as senator from Georgia reinforces his status as a rising star in the Democratic Party. He was re-elected very comfortably against Republican candidate Mike Collins in a state where Donald Trump won in 2024.
Jon Ossoff made a media breakthrough in the middle of summer with his sense of formula. “The president sleeps during his meetings. He plays golf and he sells stocks. He doesn't want to do the job. He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie in their flying palace […] offered by the Emir of Qatar,” he says about Donald Trump during a meeting. The little phrase hits the mark, the video sequence seduces social networks.
Born into a Jewish family in Atlanta, Jon Ossoff became the youngest senator in office, at age 33, in 2021. In his early life, he made documentaries, on corruption in particular. He kept the sense of image and staging.
Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms was elected governor of Georgia on Tuesday, according to American media projections, becoming the first black woman to hold this position in the United States. His victory, in a state which has not elected a Democrat as governor since the last century, illustrates the very good form of the Democratic Party in this Southern state, and more broadly throughout the country. Keisha Lance Bottoms, former mayor of Atlanta during Covid-19, won against Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire who made his fortune in health care.
After her stint as mayor of Atlanta between 2018 and 2022, Keisha Lance Bottoms worked at the White House under the presidency of Joe Biden. His campaign mainly focused on health and housing. On her campaign website, she presents herself as the descendant of a family of slaves from a plantation in Georgia, a state in the heart of the Deep South, marked by slavery, segregation and then the struggle for civil rights.
At only 37 years old, Democrat James Talarico achieved a real tour de force by winning the senatorial seat at stake in Texas, thus tilting to the left this bastion of American conservatism until then acquired by Donald Trump. In this oil and agricultural territory, where carrying weapons is deeply rooted in local culture, Democrats have not won a statewide election for more than thirty years.
The victory of this Presbyterian seminarian against Ken Paxton, attorney general of the state and close ally of Donald Trump, already stands out as one of the most significant in the election, the counting of which is still underway. While a victory for the left in this territory was considered unthinkable until recently, James Talarico was able to mobilize in the face of the historic unpopularity of Donald Trump and the strong discontent of the electorate with the cost of living and the war in Iran.
