Swing maps show spiky 'blue wave' that engulfed Trump's vote

The New York Times called it a rout, Fox News called it a bloodbath and CNN called it stunning.

In county after county across the United States, voters have turned out to put the Democrats back in control of Congress, delivering an emphatic defeat to president Donald Trump and the Republican party.

In the Senate, Democrats flipped seven seats out of Republican hands. In three of those cases — Texas, South Carolina and Kansas — Republicans had held power for decades.

These swing maps, produced by the Associated Press (AP), show how the Senate results in this week's midterm election compare to the vote count from 2024's presidential battle, when Trump triumphed over Kamala Harris.

Let's take a look at six of the crucial states where the Democrats were able to flip Senate seats in their favour.

In 2024, voters in all six of these states favoured Trump over Harris. This week, the blue shift to the Democrats was sharp and visible across every county.

Maine is the exception

The north-eastern state of Maine was the seventh Senate seat flipped by the Democrats this week. AP does not currently provide a swing map for Maine, however data shows a different pattern occurring there.

Voters backed Kamala Harris in 2024, giving her the state's two electoral college votes over Trump.

This week, Maine voters elected the Democrats' Troy Jackson over the Republican incumbent Susan Collins. However, in numerous counties the margin was not as strong as Harris's victory over Trump in 2024.

In other words, Jackson won even though Collins picked up a greater share of the vote in many counties than Trump did in 2024.

Obama, Trump agree candidate quality was crucial

Former president Barack Obama said the results "were only possible because outstanding candidates stepped forward in every region of the country — including in areas once considered long shots".

This was one of few areas where Trump could find common ground with his White House predecessor.

Voters did not like the Republican candidates, he told Fox News, while the Democrats "did a good job" and "have some good people".