El-Sayed, midterms firsts and global reactions

Hi. In London, I'm Ethan Plotkin. We're back with a second episode as a blue wave sweeps both the House and Senate, flipping once-safe Republican-held Senate seats and giving Democrats a chance to block parts of Trump's agenda for the final two years of his presidency. And a call in Michigan, too, with Democrat Abdul El-Sayed becoming the first Muslim ever elected to the United States Senate. It's Wednesday, November 4th. This is Reuters World News bringing you everything you need to know after the United States midterm elections. Life is all about making decisions. Sometimes you make questionable ones, like buying a new TV that's too big for the wall because the electronics store employee was a little too good at their job. Then sometimes you make great ones, like protecting your home and auto with Progressive. You get customized coverage options so you can be sure you have the right coverage. Get your quote today at Progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers not available in all states. Democrat Abdul El-Sayed winning the state's open U.S. Senate seat, making him the first Muslim ever elected to the United States Senate. My name is Abdul Rahman Muhammad El-Sayed. He took the stage in Detroit. And I am so proud and honored to stand here as your senator-elect from the great state of Michigan. The 42-year-old former public health official defeated Republican Mike Rogers, a former congressman and FBI agent who had strong backing from President Donald Trump and who even won a last-minute endorsement from El-Sayed's Democratic primary opponent, Haley Stevens. El-Sayed ran on a Progressive platform. Money out of? Money! Money in your? Money! Medicare for? All! Michigan, we did it! Rogers tried to paint El-Sayed as a radical, pointing to alleged ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, claims he denies. Democrats have called those attacks Islamophobic. His win preserves a seat for them and marks a breakthrough for the party's Progressive win. El-Sayed's win is one of many political firsts coming out of these midterms for both parties. I have said over the past few days, if I were your woman. Well, now I am your woman. Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms has become the first Black woman elected governor of any U.S. state. Mr. President, I also want to tell you thank you for your support and thank you for being in my corner. Mr. While Florida's Byron Donalds is the first ever Black Republican governor. Because this is a victory for Team New Hampshire over the broken status quo that is hurting all of us just the same. And another nationwide first, Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, is set to become the country's first openly gay male senator. This is a very good day. And Democrat David Crowley will be Wisconsin's first Black governor. You have now entered the Becerra era. Democrat Javier Becerra, will be California's first elected Latino governor. And finally, in Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa is the first Latina to be elected governor in the state. So what does a Democratic Congress actually mean? And what do the results tell us about the road to 2028? Our regular host, Kim Vanell, put that question to U.S. Congress and Justice Editor Michael Learmonth in Washington in the early hours of the morning. What does this tell us? It tells us, if anything, about the presidential election in 2028. I know John Ossoff, who has won the Senate seat in Georgia, has been seen as a potential presidential candidate. What do these results tell us about what that might look like? And also about, again, how voters are feeling? Yeah, so, well, I mean, 2028 will be wide open because Trump won't be on the ballot. There will be no incumbent for the first time in a long time. So, you know, I'm not saying that we're going to have to vote for the first time in a long time. So, you know, by our count, there's 20 plus Democrats potentially running for president right now, or soon will be, right? And there could be a half dozen Republicans running. So it's just a wide open race. I think what really the question is, like, on the Republican side is, can the MAGA movement live past Trump? What do we think have been the biggest factors beyond a vote against Trump for voters? What have they been voting for? So voters, voters said that they are their number one concern is affordability. That's been very consistent in all the polling we've done. I think the biggest danger for Democrats is what can they really do to address that? I think it'll be very difficult for them to make, you know, to meaningfully deliver on a promise to make things more affordable. There's just a lot of things outside their control. So I think that's a big danger for them that they promised that they would, you know, address affordability and then not be able to do it. And then not being able to do that. Can we talk about Texas? Because James Tallarico winning there, that was a very brutal fight, wasn't it? And Texas, of course, has been red for a very, very long time. Yeah. So this is the first time Democrats have won statewide office in Texas in a generation. You have to go back to 1994 when George Bush Jr. defeated Ann Richards, who was the last Democrat governor of Texas for the last time a Democrat, was elected statewide in Texas. And since then, Texas has just been dominated by the Republican Party, which has controlled all branches of government and really all the levers of power in Texas. So this is a very big sea change to see two statewide offices flip at the same time. It really speaks to a very big change in sentiment in Texas. And, you know, quite possibly driven by the Hispanic vote. Yeah, I think it's a big change. Are you ever shopping online and suddenly a discount that helps you save pops up? It makes your day, sometimes even your week. Want that feeling month after month? Well, new customers who save by switching their home and auto insurance to Progressive save hundreds. Cue your happy dance. You can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at Progressive.com. Global affairs has been a focus of Trump's second term, and the election results may affect policy far beyond America's shores. Our global managing editor for World News, Mark Bendike, is here with more. Trump told Fox News after results started rolling in that his decision to go to war with Iran was, quote, "part of the reason Republicans were defeated on Tuesday." Some voters say it played a role in their choice. So what happens next with that conflict? Well, it's an open question. Obviously, on the one hand, we have sources within the Gulf, close to the thinking of Gulf countries, telling us that it could mean that Donald Trump has more reason than ever to seek a peace deal with Iran. On the other hand, Iran, as we've seen this morning, has been quite emboldened. I think one of our sources is suggesting that they believe they've achieved regime change here. It's a cheap shot. But essentially, it's not. And I think that that might indicate that Iran may embolden, be emboldened to take, for example, more action in the Strait of Hormuz and disrupt oil supplies. Candidates across the board, but especially Democrats, campaigned on reassessing, creating some distance between the U.S. and Israel. Where do you see that relationship going now that Democrats control both houses of Congress? Well, it's very interesting. Our bureau chief in Israel was saying just this morning that, with a Congress, the U.S. and the U.K. are now, which is controlled fairly squarely by Democrats, then that might mean for Israel and for the Netanyahu still government, a pretty difficult situation, obviously. It may actually weaken support, not only for the Israeli government's stance toward Iran, but also on issues like Gaza and Hezbollah. The Trump administration's approach to the Russia-Ukraine war has evolved during his term. Have we learned how Kyiv and Moscow are reacting to the election? We're waiting, obviously, for on-the-record comment from Kyiv and also Moscow. Our bureau chief there, his early read on this is that it is good news for Kyiv that the Congress, which controls and can allocate funding for support for Ukraine, is now in the hands of the Democrats. I would want to add, too, that in Europe, which obviously have a big stake in Ukraine, that the early kind of mood music from Europe is very much wait and see. And of course, it's not just American voters or global capitals waking up to a blue wave. Wall Street is waking up to it, too. For more on what the Democrats' "sweep" of Congress means for markets, here's Mike Dolan from our sister markets podcast, Morning Big. So the results have been dramatic, but the market looks at it as if these were results hiding in plain sight for several weeks. Certainly, that's not the case with the U.S. and the U.K. as well. Certainly, that was the indication, a clean sweep for the Democrats in opinion polls and in betting markets. So we did get, initially, on the scale of the results, on the scale of the victory for the democrats we did get initial drop in tech stocks in asia and amongst nasdaq futures that was on the basis that there would be greater ai regulation and possible pushback against data center building but we've got a rally going on just before the bell we're getting recovering those losses and i think that's mainly because broadly speaking these results were what most people had assumed so now we look to other things like the implications for the iran war for example but oil prices are calm as well thanks mike you can hear morning big wherever you get your podcasts are you ever shopping online and suddenly a discount that helps you save pops up it makes your day sometimes even your week want that feeling month after month well new customers who save by switching their home and auto insurance to progressive save hundreds cue your happy dance get your quote today at progressive.com progressive casualty insurance company affiliates and other insurers not available in all states a reminder that this is our second episode of the day today for earlier results and analysis from the midterms as they happened check out our super early midterm special which was out overnight for more on any of the stories from today as well as more analysis and news shaping our world check out reuters.com or the reuters app there's a link in the description to download it and start getting pure news straight from the source don't forget to follow us on your favorite podcast player and if you're listening on a smart speaker just ask for the latest news from reuters seven days a week we'll be back later with more updates