The blue wave that swept Republicans away in the US midterm elections has propelled a new set of Democrat rising stars into the spotlight that could take the lead in the fight against the President and his party.
As the Democratic Party reflects on a historic night, in which it turned ruby-red Republican states blue from Kansas to South Carolina, it has positioned itself for the end of Donald Trump’s presidency and into the race for the White House in 2028.
There is already speculation that some newly elected candidates have the star quality and credentials to make a tilt for the presidency. Already, Georgia’s re-elected senator Jon Ossoff is being discussed as a contender, as is senator-elect James Talarico, who took Texas.
They join big names in the party who are being discussed as potential presidential contenders. These include Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive New York congresswoman who has refused to rule out a run for the presidency; the outgoing governor of California Gavin Newsom, who has gained popularity thanks to his mockery of Trump on social media; the former transport secretary under Joe Biden, Pete Buttigieg, who ran in the 2020 presidential primary; and Biden’s vice-president Kamala Harris, the 2024 Democrat presidential nominee.
Both chambers of Congress will look very different when the new representatives are sworn in on 3 January. And many of the fresh faces of today are likely to become the household names of tomorrow.
Jon Ossoff, the senator who spectacularly fended off a Republican challenge in Georgia, is the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next Democratic presidential candidate.
Ossoff has been senator since 2021 after a knife-edge race in 2020, which he turned into a cakewalk last night, winning by 18 points in a purple state.
Ossoff insists he has “zero interest” in the White House. But his broad appeal is fuelling speculation nevertheless. The 39-year-old’s ascent has been marked by support from different factions of his party, and even the ability to work effectively with Republicans – a rarity in polarised times.
The London-educated lawmaker has also proved a master of fundraising, pulling in more than $100m (£74.2m) in each of his campaigns for the Senate. Ossoff is a combative presence in congressional hearings and public appearances, and takes every opportunity to attack the President.
“The American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption and incompetence of the failed lame-duck president Donald J Trump,” declared Ossoff in his victory speech, comments that were lapped up by his growing fan base.
Many previous Democrat candidates were tipped to break the Republican stranglehold on Texas, but James Talarico, 37, has become the first this century to actually do it. The former schoolteacher did so in the face of heavy spending for his opponent, including a reported $224m (£166m) from Elon Musk, and by a landslide margin of 12 points.
Talarico, a former schoolteacher and Presbyterian seminarian, earned a reputation as a youth whisperer with a series of packed rallies on university campuses where students queued for selfies. The strategy paid off with returns data showing he won the 18-29 vote by 50 points, according to estimates based on results and statistical modelling. Talarico is also fond of biblical references, referring to himself as David against the Republican Goliath, and telling audiences “you are my slingshot”.
The full value of the breakthrough could become clear with the presidential election in 2028, because most strategists see the Republican path to retaining the White House as dependent on Texas and its 40 Electoral College votes. The Democrat takeover of the state included another shock win with State Representative Gina Hinojosa taking the Governor’s mansion from 12-year Republican incumbent Greg Abbott.
The soon-to-be first female governor of Ohio triumphed in an ugly campaign against Trump allied-billionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, who used her estranged mother in a controversial ad to attack her that was condemned by many of his own party members – but not Trump, who described it as “powerful”.
Acton, a victim of sexual abuse as a child raised in poverty, said she shared details of her trauma because “it might give other people hope that you can, you know, get out of circumstances”.
Ohio’s former chief public health officer put healthcare at the centre of her campaign and it proved a winning formula in a state that had returned Republican governors since 2006.
Acton, 60, has also pledged to tackle corruption in politics, attacking a “revolving door” between lobbyists and government, and promising greater transparency over funding of public bodies.
The new governor has already been attacked by Trump, who branded her a “radical-left lunatic”, and she is likely to gain prominence in high office.
Abdul El-Sayed will be America’s first Muslim senator after coming through two bruising campaigns. The epidemiologist narrowly pipped Democrat rival Hayley Stevens in a primary contest, and in a shock move this weekend Stevens went on to endorse his Republican rival Mike Rogers in Tuesday’s election.
El-Sayed, the son of Egyptian immigrants, has been outspent in both rounds, with pro-Israel donors supporting his opponents over his criticism of the country, including labelling Israel’s actions in Gaza a “genocide”. The Democrat candidate has also faced Islamophobic abuse from Republicans, with Trump labelling him a “jihadist” and mocking his name, while Texas senator Ted Cruz alleged he would support terrorists threatening the US.
Although he does not identify as a socialist, El-Sayed is associated with the rising radical flank of the Democrats through his willingness to break with party orthodoxy and his gift for social media communication. He is also an outspoken proponent of universal healthcare.
El-Sayed used his victory speech to call out detractors, including Trump. “Donald, I know you struggle with my name, so when JD [Vance, the Vice President] swears me in, you can call me ‘senator,’” he said.
Josh Turek, a two-time Paralympic gold medallist, managed to stop a long Democrat slide in Iowa with a shock victory over the former television host Ashley Hinson.
Turek, 47, ran an insurgency campaign that contrasted his working-class background with his opponents’ wealth, and attacked Hinson’s party for making state residents poorer through the Iran war and Trump’s tariffs – which had hit farmers in agricultural Iowa particularly hard.
Turek was born with spina bifida – when a baby’s spine and spinal cord do not fully develop in the womb – after his father was exposed to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, but overcame 21 surgeries by age 12 to go on to represent the US in wheelchair basketball at four Paralympics.
As a former Republican voter and latecomer to politics, Turek distinguished himself from past Democrat contenders for the state, and embraced what he called “common-sense prairie populism”.
The Iowan – and the rest of his new Democratic colleagues – will have the opportunity to rattle more cages from the larger stage of the Senate.
How you ‘smart fridge’ could be hacked
Household appliances, energy meters and even microwaves are vulnerable to hacking from hostile states, experts have warned.
Here’s how…
Fridge hack
Hackers sent temperatures soaring in supermarket freezers across 10 countries on Tuesday – including Ireland, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and Sweden.
The incident occurred three weeks after an unprecedented cyber attack caused French freezers to heat to 50°C, spoiling millions of euros worth of food.
How was the attack carried out?
Older internet remote-control boxes that manage refrigeration were targeted with an automatic defrost function, triggering dozens of shops, including IKEA.
Security experts believe a state actor like Russia may be to blame for the attacks, which also affected fridges in a small number of British businesses.
While state-linked attackers are more likely to target supply chains or national infrastructure to cause maximum disruption, experts are now calling for homeowners to reconsider if they need appliances that connect to the internet and action from government.
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Warnings from the Government
Millions have ‘smart fridges’
A YouGov poll last year showed more than two million Britons have smart fridges.
MP Graeme Downie said people in the UK should reconsider the connected appliances in their homes.
Cellular modules
Downie warned against the use of smart cellular modules that can connect to the internet or mobile network.
What else is vulnerable?
Luke de Pulford, the co-founder of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which monitors the threat from Beijing, said any firmware in devices that requires remote software could be vulnerable to hacking from a foreign-based entity.
- “Energy smart meters, microwaves, smart TVs – those are all things that are vulnerable. But also Chinese-made CCTV equipment. These are all devices that are well known to be vulnerable,” he said.
Taking pets abroad may be about to get easier – here’s why
Pet owners are likely to get easier access to the European Union for their pets under a new UK-EU agreement, it has been reported.
Pet passports
Pet passports will be revived under a new UK-EU sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) agreement due to be agreed ahead of a joint summit reports.
Post Brexit, pet owners paid £200 to obtain an animal health certificate in order to take them abroad. Under the proposed deal, pets will now be a given a passport.
New deals with the EU
- 1Travellers will be able to bring their dogs, cats, and ferrets into EU territory for the duration of their lifetime without the need for expensive certificates. This will be implemented from 2028.
- 2UK ministers also hope to agree a deal to give car manufacturers access to the EU’s Made in Europe scheme.
- 3The EU is also looking to agree a youth mobility scheme allowing up to 100,000 Europeans to work aand study in the UK a year. Separately, Brussels is also looking for a reduction in tuition fees for EU students.
UK may have to accept almost 100,000 young Europeans a year to unlock Brexit deal
British negotiators think they can strike a youth mobility agreement with the EU while staying under the “psychologically important” figure of 100,000 visas, The i Paper can reveal.
Why Rice Krispies is no longer made from whole grain rice
Kellogg’s has removed rice grains from its Rice Krispies and Coco Pops cereals after “changing weather conditions” affected the quality and availability of the ingredient, the firm has said.
New formula
Rice Krispies has been reformulated to use rice flour instead of rice, while Coco Pops now contains a blend of rice flour and corn flour in place of rice.
Under the new recipes, the cereals now also contain wheat gluten, meaning they are no longer suitable for shoppers with a wheat allergy or coeliac disease.
Kellogg’s spokeswoman:
“This recent change helps us maintain consistent quality at a time when changing weather conditions are affecting the quality and availability of some of the and grains used in our cereals.”
The change in formula comes after this year’s El Niño weather phenomenon caused widespread droughts, floods and heatwaves across much of Asia where most of the world’s rice comes from.
Watch more from The i Paper
What to know as Republicans suffer brutal election losses
The Democrats have made sweeping gains in a bruising night for Donald Trump and the Republicans.
Sweeping victories
The US midterms have seen the Democrats flip key Republican Senate seats in places such as and .
The stunning results have been widely regarded as a consequence of the cost of living crisis which has been driven by the US-Israeli war with Iran. Losing both houses will now make it hard for Trump to drive his legislative agenda.
Key Republican losses in the Senate
Democrat James Talarico defeated Trump-backed Ken Paxton in Texas.
Democrat Sherrod Brown won in Ohio, defeating Republican Jon Husted.
Democrat Annie Andrews beat Trump’s hand-picked candidate Darline Graham to take the seat.
The losses keep coming
Democrat Troy Jackson won, taking the state’s Senate seat for the first time in 29 years.
Abdul El-Sayed is projected to win, becoming the first Muslim senator in US history.
Paralympian Josh Turek won a Senate seat in the state for the first time in 18 years.
Democrats needed a net gain of four seats in the 100-member Senate to win a majority, while in the 435-member House, they needed three. Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff, who won re-election in Georgia, told supporters “the American people have rebuked the depravity, corruption, and incompetence of the failed lame-duck President Donald J Trump”.
Trump’s response:
I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE!
Posting on his social media platform Truth Social, the President sought to defend the bruising results.
While offering to work with opponents, he also posted a picture of a red baseball cap emblazoned with the word “Veto”, suggesting he would block legislation they sought to take through Congress.
Watch more from The i Paper
Why you feel completely broke
A decent salary and watching what you spend is increasingly not enough for people to feel well off– here’s why.
Cost of living
The UK is suffering the worst decade in terms of the growth in household incomes since records began.
Due to cost of living pressures and a lack of substantial wage growth, leading think-tanks like the Resolution Foundation predict that a typical working-age household will see their disposable income fall by £1,050 or 3 per cent between now and 2029.
Disposable income growing slower
Slow growth, inflation and stubbornly high housing costs are the main culprits. While disposable incomes fluctuated throughout the 1970s and 80s, they generally rose again after a fall. Not so since the 2008 global financial crisis, Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic.
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House prices rising faster
The average house price in the UK is currently around 6.5 times the average income, compared to around 3.5 times in 1996 and 2.5 times in 1966.
- One could argue that it is why Andy Burnham thinks Britain should rejoin the European Union and why we’ve heard so much about growth – now rebranded as “good growth” – in order to improve incomes.
More people paying higher rate income tax
One of the major reasons behind stagnated income growth is the constant freezing of tax thresholds – levels that won’t change until 2030.
You are now dragged into paying the higher tax rate of 40 per cent if you earn £50,271 or more. You stay in that bracket until you earn £125,000, but at £100,000 a year you lose your personal tax-free allowance and your entitlement to state-funded free childcare.
The NHS blood test which could find several cancers
Blood tests capable of detecting signs of several cancers from a single sample will be offered to NHS patients in a world-first trial.
New blood tests
Thousands of patients will be invited to take part in the Stride-RCT study, which aims to catch cancers at a time when treatment is more likely to succeed.
The tests – which use AI and other cutting-edge technology – could also help GPs identify patients with cancers that are difficult to diagnose.
How will the tests be rolled out?
Who is eligible?
More than 20,000 patients aged 45 or older will be invited to take part.
The tests will be offered to patients who present with symptoms such as persistent bloating or abdominal discomfort.
Where will they be available?
The £8.5m government-funded trial will be offered in more than 200 GPs across England.
How do the tests work?
The tests are designed to detect signs of cancers including bowel, pancreatic, ovarian, stomach, liver, kidney, bladder and prostate cancer.
Some work by identifying tiny fragments of DNA that are shed into the bloodstream by tumours. Others measure proteins in the blood, or use AI to analyse results.
The tests aim not only to identify possible cancer cells but also to indicate where in the body it may be developing.
6 min read