Young Voters' Big Shift Helped Block Trump in US Midterm Elections

US history says the sitting president's party loses seats in midterm elections. But this time the Democrats' victory against President Donald Trump has been described as the biggest win for any party in half a century. A shift in support among young voters played an important role in that victory.

The rising cost of living, uncertainty about the future and frustration with the old political leadership — young Americans expressed these grievances at the ballot box. In Tuesday's midterm elections, young people's support for the Democrats played an important role in the rout of Trump's Republican Party.

Of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of the US Congress, the Democratic Party has won 253 seats. The Republican Party has won 160 seats. Results for 32 seats are yet to be declared. In the 100-seat Senate, the upper chamber, Democrats now hold 54 seats and Republicans 44. Results for two Senate seats are yet to be declared. Voting was held for 35 Senate seats this time.

According to a preliminary New York Times analysis, compared with the 2024 presidential election, the gap between the two parties among voters aged 18-29 in this House election has moved about 40 percentage points towards the Democrats. Among young men the change is 39 percentage points, and among women 27 percentage points.

In interviews, young people said they are struggling to cope with rent and healthcare costs, and that the future of building their own home and family through a job is also uncertain. Alongside this, dissatisfaction over the Iran war and Israel policy influenced their change of support.

This shift in the youth vote spread beyond cities to rural areas and suburbs. According to the New York Times' 5 November count, Democrats have this time won in 52 of the 234 congressional districts that Trump won in 2024. The party is on course to achieve its biggest House majority since 2008.

However, many young people made clear that their support for the Democrats is not unconditional. They voted not for the party but for the hope of change, and they will also watch whether the winners keep their promises.

An analysis of the Senate election result in Texas shows the voting tendency of men aged 18 to 44 moved about 50 percentage points in favour of Democratic candidate James Talarico. Tristan Walmsley (35), a voter in Richmond in the state, said James is his age, that listening to him felt like he could talk to him himself, and that James is an ordinary person like him. Tristan voted for Democratic candidates for all state-level offices this time for the first time in his life.

Young people like Tristan voted for candidates in whom they found a reflection of themselves. Such Democratic candidates included Michigan's newly elected senator Abdul El-Sayed, Iowa's newly elected governor Rob Sand, Georgia senator Jon Ossoff, Los Angeles' newly elected mayor Nithya Raman and Montana's newly elected House member Sam Forstag. And 19-year-old Daniel Darris-O'Connor defeated a Republican who had served eight terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

In this way voters bid farewell to old-style politicians. They also turned away wealthy middle-aged Republicans such as Rick Jackson and Ken Paxton. Jackson was a candidate for governor of Georgia. In Texas, Paxton lost to James Talarico.

Chase Sardeson (23), in Raleigh, North Carolina, works as an electrician's apprentice. He grew up in a conservative family. Now Sardeson and his girlfriend pay 1,800 dollars a month in house rent. Sardeson said he felt disheartened after calculating how much it would cost when he comes off his parents' health insurance cover.

Izzy Imes (24) is an assistant manager at a coffee shop in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. She grew up in a religious and conservative family and has moved away from those influences since high school. She said that after the 2024 election she was completely broken mentally. On Tuesday she voted for Democratic candidates for all offices.

Obed Alvidrez (26), who grew up in a Republican-leaning family in Texas, also voted for the Democrats this time. He said he was inspired this time by those Democratic candidates who did not take it for granted that they would get his vote. Alvidrez works alongside his studies. He said people are actually tired.