Election 2018: Democrats seize control of the House, Republicans keep Senate

Gil Cisneros

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Gil Cisneros has defeated Republican Young Kim in the 39th Congressional District, putting the seat held by retiring GOP Rep. Ed Royce into the Democrats’ column. His victory means the longtime conservative stronghold of Orange County will be represented entirely by Democrats in the House next session.

Kim and Cisneros had been locked in battle over the seat left open by Royce’s retirement. Kim was considered by many to have an edge going into the race because of her name recognition and long history as a district staffer for Royce, who had endorsed her.

Cisneros, who dominated the money race by pouring $9 million of his own funds into his first run for office, tried to use President Trump’s unpopularity to weigh down Kim’s bid, even registering a lookalike campaign web address that declared “Young Kim is Donald Trump.” Kim broke with Trump on several of his policies, including family separation at the border and curtailing family-sponsored visas. Nearly a third of the district’s residents are Asian American, and a third are Latino.

Katie Porter

(Luis Sinco / Los Angeles Times)

First-time candidate Katie Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and consumer protection attorney, defeated two-time incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters of Laguna Niguel in California’s 45th Congressional District, becoming the first Democrat elected to the seat in the longtime Republican stronghold in Orange County.

Porter ran on a progressive platform, touting her support for universal healthcare and vowing to take corporate money out of politics. Her victory in the wealthy, highly educated district including Tustin and Mission Viejo, which had never sent a Democrat to Congress, signals the shifting political landscape in the county.

Walters, a former state legislator, was first elected to the seat in 2014 by a wide margin and reelected in 2016 by a comfortable 17 percentage points, even as Hillary Clinton won the tony suburban district by five points.

Democrats saw an opportunity and poured in resources to back Porter and attack Walters, focusing on Walters’ record of voting predominantly in line with President Trump’s policies. Porter, who emerged from a crowded primary field even though the state Democratic Party backed another candidate fellow UC Irvine professor Dave Min, assailed Walters’ vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act and for the 2017 Republican tax plan, which could be costly for many Californians.

Walters avoided media attention and maintained a low profile throughout the campaign. Her ads told voters that Porter’s policies would result in massive tax increases and government-controlled healthcare.

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Josh Harder talks with supporters in Modesto on Oct. 25.

(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has lost a tight race against Democrat Josh Harder in a heated race for the Central Valley’s 10th Congressional District.

The seat was one of seven in California heavily targeted by national Democrats after the election of President Trump. Denham, 51, had previously beaten the odds in a district carried by Hillary Clinton and President Obama in the last two presidential elections.

Harder, 32, an investor and former venture capitalist, spent most of the last decade going to school and working on the East Coast. But he was born and raised in the district and said he decided to take on Denham upon his return to stand up to Trump and protect residents’ healthcare.

For years, Democrats have looked at the district that the three-term Republican congressman represents and seen winnable odds. The region, which takes in all of Stanislaus County and the southern portion of San Joaquin County, has a slightly higher share of registered Democrats than Republicans, and Latinos — who generally lean Democratic — make up nearly the same percentage of residents as non-Latino whites. But higher GOP turnout has given Republicans an edge.

Until now, Denham had managed to keep a low national profile, more likely to be known among supporters at home as a fellow farmer committed to water and other agricultural issues. But Trump’s presidency thrust new attention on his farming credentials and policy decisions, including his middle-of-the-road approach to immigration.

Harder attacked Denham for supporting the GOP tax bill and voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Denham attempted to cast Harder as a Bay Area outsider with little experience on one of the Central Valley’s key issues — water.

Both oppose Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown’s delta tunnels proposal and had pledged to fight a plan by the Democrat-appointed state water board that could reduce the amount of water diverted from Northern California rivers for irrigation.

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Republican incumbent Tom McClintock of Elk Grove has defeated Democrat Jessica Morse to retain his seat representing California’s 4th Congressional District.

Morse, 36, jumped into the race after the election of President Trump and gave Democrats new hope of riding a national wave of energy among young voters and suburban moms to victory. But the national security strategist faced long odds in the Sierra Nevada district, home to the highest share of registered Republicans in the state.

The sleepy region primarily covers Placer and El Dorado counties; it is anchored by Sacramento suburbs and stretches from Lake Tahoe in the north to Kings Canyon National Park in the south.

Although activists have confronted McClintock, 62, at town hall meetings and protested outside his office, Republicans here hold a 13-point voter registration advantage. On Wednesday, he said his reelection victory proved his Sierra constituents valued minimum government interference, low taxes and secure borders.

“These are the policies I have pursued in Washington and will continue to pursue with increased vigor and confidence — knowing that these positions are the clear and decisive will of the vast majority of voters in this district,” he said.

The five-term incumbent helped pass the GOP tax plan, voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act and advocated for stricter immigration enforcement. He also has challenged the scientific consensus on climate change and recently came under criticism for a campaign appearance with right-wing provocateur Dinesh D’Souza, who has promoted anti-Semitic and racist tropes.

Democrats hadn’t been so excited about their prospects in the district since 2006. Morse outraised McClintock and finished the week before the race with nearly $1 million cash on hand that she poured into TV and digital ads, volunteer canvassing and more campaigning.

Detractors accused her of inflating her resume. But Morse shrugged off the allegations and touted her record working for the military, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. She said she wants to allow Americans to buy into the Medicare system, called for comprehensive immigration reform and emphasized protection of public lands in a district with four national parks.

“I went to bed last night filled with gratitude. While we didn’t prevail at the polls, we built a foundation that strengthened our community and built a common vision for leadership that can dissolve the poisonous partisanship threatening our nation,” Morse said in a statement Wednesday.

“In a moment in history where our country is being shredded by fear, anger, and partisanship, we rose up, and I am grateful to have been part of it.”

UPDATES:

6:03 p.m.: This story has been updated with comments from Morse.

Nov. 7, 1:42 p.m.: This post was updated with comments from McClintock.

This post was originally published at 10:47 p.m., Nov. 6.

GOP Rep. David Valadao has outrun Democrat TJ Cox for a Central Valley seat that has long eluded Democrats despite favorable odds.

California’s 21st Congressional District, which tilts against Republicans in terms of registered voters, was one of seven seats across the state targeted by national Democrats soon after the election of President Trump. But Valadao once more proved to be a formidable incumbent in a district that he won with more than 55% of the vote in his previous three elections.

Democrats have struggled with ineffective campaigns and low voter turnout in the district, whose population is more than 70% Latino, that stretches across the rural parts of Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties. The nonpartisan handicapper Cook Political Report had labeled the race “likely Republican.”

Valadao, 41, hails from a family of local Portuguese dairy farmers and has withstood Democratic challengers because of his focus on local issues such as irrigation and water storage. Like other Central Valley Republicans, he attempted to gain some distance from the president on immigration. But Trump placed attention on his otherwise GOP-aligned policy preferences, which Democrats attacked as deeply mismatched with the needs of his constituents.

Cox, 55, was a late contender in the race after originally seeking to challenge neighboring Republican Rep. Jeff Denham. The businessman and engineer pushed Valadao on his voting record and what he called inaction on local issues.

Shortly after the race was called, Valadao pledged to return to Congress to work on education and water issues.

“The Central Valley has always been and will always be my home and I am beyond grateful for the opportunity to continue serving the place I love,” he said.

Cox said he was proud of his campaign, and its “message of working for the people to deliver healthcare, jobs and opportunity.”

UPDATES:

4:22 p.m.: This post has been updated with a comment from Cox.

Nov. 7, 2:04 p.m.: This post was updated with comment from Valadao.

This post was originally published at 11:14 p.m., Nov. 6.

Democratic leaders may hold up the Golden State as the center of the country’s resistance to President Trump, but they can’t write off California’s Republican and independent voters. Despite limited money and little name recognition, Cox got 40.6% of the vote in Tuesday’s election. That number could change as provisional and late mail-in ballots are counted, but it’s in line with previous Republican gubernatorial candidates including Neel Kashkari (40%) and Meg Whitman (41%) in their bids.

Cox was able to hit 40% despite falling Republican Party registration in California. The party has steadily declined over the last two decades, falling to 24% of the state’s registered voters compared with 35% in 2002, while no party preference registration grew 12% over the same period.

Unrelenting television spots helped Newsom’s campaign spread his positive and progressive message, but Cox didn’t have the money to reach the same number of people.

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Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, left, and the governor-elect, Tony Evers.

(Wisconsin State Journal / Associated Press)

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said Wednesday he has conceded defeat to Democrat Tony Evers in their election contest.

Walker said he called Evers to offer his concession concede defeat. The two-term Republican incumbent said he had held off because the race was so close, but that his campaign decided Wednesday there were not enough votes in play to change the outcome.

Based on unofficial results, Evers won by about 31,000 votes.

Walker said in a statement that he had offered the full support of his staff and Cabinet to Evers as he begins the transition.

Walker had earlier expressed concern about 2,000 absentee ballots in Milwaukee that had been reconstructed due to errors or damage. But his campaign said it ultimately determined there weren’t enough votes in question to change the outcome of the race.

Evers is slated to be sworn into office Jan. 7.

Katie Hill at a campaign night party in Santa Clarita.

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

Republican Rep. Steve Knight of Palmdale conceded to Democratic challenger Katie Hill on Wednesday as votes were still being counted in the race to represent California’s 25th Congressional District in northern Los Angeles County.

Knight’s defeat was a major blow to the Republican Party, which lost one of its last footholds in a county that is tilting more and more Democratic as growing Latino and Asian American populations reshape the region’s politics.

Rep. Steve Knight

(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

Knight, an Army veteran who served 18 years as a Los Angeles police officer, was first elected to the House in 2014. He took pains during the campaign to cast himself as a nonpartisan problem solver for constituents with a more moderate approach to immigration than President Trump.

But at a time when Republicans are increasingly unpopular in California, Knight, 51, almost always voted with the GOP, backing Trump’s 2017 tax overhaul and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

Hill, 31, will be one of the youngest members of freshman Democrats in the House. A former executive director of PATH, a Los Angeles nonprofit that provides services to the homeless, Hill has never before held public office.

In her campaign, she backed lowering the cost of prescription drugs and cutting taxes for the middle class, saying she would challenge a corrupt Washington culture that caters too much to the needs of campaign donors.

Mike Levin

(Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Democrat Mike Levin has won the race for the 49th Congressional District, moving controversial Rep. Darrell Issa’s seat from the Republican column. Issa has held the seat since 2002.

Levin will probably seek to put his influence on environmental issues, which have occupied most of his career since law school. He has been an executive and advocate at alternative energy organizations and has favored the state’s goal to eliminate fossil fuel in electricity production.

Democrats made gains at the state level as well on Tuesday, though they were greater in governors’ mansions.

Democrats captured seven governorships from Republican control. These wins break up the Republicans’ single-party control of state government in both Michigan and Wisconsin. The split of governors’ seats between the parties has narrowed significantly from 17 to three.

Democrats won majorities in six state houses, but Republicans still hold a large advantage nationwide. The results were slightly less than the eight gained by the party in 2006 and half of the 12 that Republicans gained in 1994.

Some key wins involved not flipping but winning seats. Gains in the New York Senate break up control by a Republican-led coalition there. Seats gained in the North Carolina state houses break up a Republican supermajority there, relieving the Democratic governor of a constant veto threat.

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana fended off Republican Matt Rosendale to win a third term in a red state that President Trump won by 20 percentage points in 2016, according to the Associated Press.

Tester won although Trump repeatedly traveled to Montana to boost Rosendale, the state auditor. The president said he made it a personal quest to help defeat Tester for opposing Trump’s onetime nominee to be Veterans Affairs secretary, Ronny Jackson.

Tester, a farmer and rancher, won by tacking to the center and vowing to work with Trump. He supported partial repeal of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial law.

Duncan Hunter

(Joe Raedle / Getty Images)

Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Alpine) has secured a sixth term in his deep red congressional district, two months after he and his wife were indicted on charges of campaign finance violations and wire fraud.

The indictment put the normally safe Republican district into play, but first-time candidate Ammar Campa-Najjar — a 29-year-old former Obama administration employee — couldn’t overcome the 14-point Republican registration advantage.

Hunter has earned at least 56% of the vote in each of his five races. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee didn’t consider the 50th Congressional District, which stretches across east San Diego County and into Riverside County, among its top targets.

The race drew national attention after Hunter began running an ad that claimed, without proof, that Campa-Najjar was a “security risk” with ties to terrorism.

Hunter, 41, served in the U.S. Marine Corps before winning the seat previously held by his father, who represented San Diego County in Congress for 28 years. He was among the first congressmen to endorse then-candidate Donald Trump, and has hewed closely to the president on issues ranging from immigration to environmental policy.

Hunter was not the only congressman under federal indictment to win reelection on Tuesday: fellow Republican Chris Collins, indicted on charges of insider trading, eked out a fourth term in New York’s 27th Congressional District earlier in the night. Hunter, who pleaded not guilty, is next due in court on Dec. 3. Should he be found guilty and resign from Congress, there will likely be a special election.

Gov.-elect Tony Evers enters a room filled with members of the news media Wednesday at the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County in Madison.

(John Hart / Wisconsin State Journal via Associated Press )

Democrat Tony Evers looked ahead to leading Wisconsin with a Republican-controlled Legislature, the first time state government has been divided in a decade, while ousted Republican Gov. Scott Walker eyed a possible recount following the state’s closest governor’s race in more than half a century.

The Evers victory, coupled with the apparent win by Democratic attorney general candidate Josh Kaul in a race too close to call, realigns the political dynamic in Wisconsin following eight years of Republican control. While Democrats had hopes of making headway in the Legislature, Republicans will remain in the majority with Evers as governor, setting up at least two years of divided government. That hasn’t happened in Wisconsin since 2008, when Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle was in office and Republicans controlled the Assembly with Democrats in charge of the Senate.

Evers declared victory early Wednesday morning, but Walker held off conceding while his campaign investigated 2,000 absentee ballots in Milwaukee that were reconstructed due to damage or errors. The city’s elections commission said the reconstruction process is routine, transparent and overseen by representatives of both political parties, election workers and the public.

With the unofficial count substantially complete, Evers led by about 31,000 votes, or 1.15 percentage points, which is just outside the margin at which a losing candidate may request a recount.

Walker’s first comment since the loss came via Twitter on Wednesday morning, when he posted a Psalm from the Bible: “This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Walker’s defeat came amid record turnout for a midterm election in Wisconsin. More than 57% of the voting-age population — nearly 2.7 million people — cast ballots in the governor’s race. Walker’s loss was driven by massive turnout in the Democratic stronghold of Dane County, home to the state capital and University of Wisconsin main campus.

But he also did worse elsewhere compared with 2014 — namely in the conservative Milwaukee suburbs that are vital for Republicans in statewide races. Those counties also came out less for President Trump in 2016 compared with Mitt Romney four years earlier.

Walker’s loss spells the end of what some called the “Cheesehead Revolution.” That described Walker, who ran for president in 2015, Rep. Paul Ryan’s ascendance to House speaker and Reince Preibus’ role as head of the Republican National Committee and, briefly, as Trump’s chief of staff.

Major U.S. stock indexes opened higher Wednesday after the uncertainty of a contentious midterm election ended with the most widely expected result: a Democratic takeover of the House and Republicans retaining the Senate majority.

Despite President Trump’s contention last week that Democratic victories would lead to a stock market crash, the Dow Jones industrial average was up about 150 points, or 0.6%, on Wednesday. The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index and the technology-heavy Nasdaq composite also were trading higher.

A divided Congress likely means gridlock in Washington for the next two years on major policy matters. That would be just fine with businesses that already have received a large tax cut and sweeping relaxation of regulations under Trump and congressional Republicans.

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Republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher trailed challenger Harley Rouda by 2,682 votes with all precincts reporting early Wednesday in Orange County’s 48th Congressional District. Provisional ballots and late mail ballots still have to be counted.

If Rouda, a real estate entrepreneur, holds onto the lead, it would mark a stunning defeat for Republicans in what has long been the deepest red part of the county. Rohrabacher has held the seat for 30 years.

Dana Rohrabacher

(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

Democrat Fiona Ma was elected state treasurer Tuesday in a win over Republican Greg Conlon. Conlon and Ma ran for the open seat after incumbent John Chiang, a Democrat, ran for governor and lost in the primary.

Ma is a former CPA, San Francisco supervisor and assemblywoman. Conlon is a retired CPA who has run for the seat twice before and lost both times.

The treasurer oversees the state’s investments and administers the sale of bonds and notes.

Betty Yee

(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Democrat Betty Yee won another term as state controller on Tuesday, defeating Republican challenger Konstantinos Roditis.

Yee is the officer in charge of paying the state’s bills and administering the payroll system for state workers. In her role, she is one of the state officials with the power to audit state agencies and local governments.

Roditis, of Anaheim, built his campaign around a “trickle-up taxation” proposal to radically alter the way the state collects taxes — cities and counties collect all revenue before a percentage of funds go to Sacramento. He also pledged to defund the state’s high-speed rail project.

Alex Padilla

(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Secretary of State Alex Padilla was reelected Tuesday and will serve a second term, defeating Republican challenger Mark Meuser.

Padilla is a former state senator and Los Angeles City Council member from the San Fernando Valley. He spearheaded a new Motor Voter act in 2015 and a new system for online business registrations. But the new systems have had hiccups: More than 23,000 Californians were registered to vote incorrectly by the state DMV.

Meuser, an attorney, ran on a campaign to stamp out alleged voter fraud. He has claimed that some counties have more voters than people eligible to vote, though elections experts said the claims misrepresent the way the data are collected.

The secretary of state’s office oversees business and corporate filings. It also handles statewide elections and collects voter data.

Eleni Kounalakis

(Steve Yeater / Associated Press)

Former U.S. Ambassador Eleni Kounalakis, was elected lieutenant governor Tuesday, defeating state Sen. Ed Hernandez (D-Azuza).

Kounalakis, a prominent Democratic Party donor, was appointed ambassador to Hungary by President Obama and has never held public office. Her father, prominent developer Angelo Tsakopoulos, has been a major source of financing for her first campaign.

Hernandez, an optometrist from the San Gabriel Valley, was first elected to the Assembly in 2006 and then the state Senate in 2010. The lieutenant governor has a seat on several state boards including the University of California Board of Regents, the California State University board of trustees and the State Lands Commission.

The officeholder’s primary function is to fill in when California’s governor is out of the state, impeached, resigns, is removed from office or in case of death. The lieutenant governor can also break a tie in the state Senate.

Robert Holland, with his wife, Lorie, is a 63-year-old in Tujunga who supports Proposition 5.

(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Times)

California voters on Tuesday rejected Proposition 5, a measure that would have offered a property tax break to homeowners 55 and older as well as the severely disabled and natural disaster victims if they move to a new home.

Under the measure, which was placed on the ballot by the California Assn. of Realtors, qualifying homeowners would no longer have to pay property taxes based on the purchase price of their new home. Instead, they would pay based on a combination of their new and old home values, lowering their property tax payment.

Alex Villanueva, challenger for Los Angeles County Sheriff, talks with Elizabeth Yuson of Los Angeles on election night.

(Gary Coronado / Los Angeles Times)

In what could be a stunning upset, retired Sheriff’s Lt. Alex Villanueva took a narrow lead over Los Angeles County Sheriff Jim McDonnell early Wednesday. With 100% of precincts reporting, he was ahead by 4,927 votes.

Provisional ballots and late mail ballots still have to be counted.

Villanueva would be the first challenger to unseat a living incumbent sheriff in the county in more than 100 years. Villanueva, who has served in the Sheriff’s Department for three decades, took a lead despite McDonnell out-fundraising him 8 to 1. He made expelling immigration agents from the county jails a centerpiece of his platform.

Katie Hill speaks to supporters at campaign night party at The Canyon in Santa Clarita

(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)

There was no decision, but there was “Despacito.”

In Santa Clarita, the 400 or so people who’d gathered for House candidate Katie Hill’s and Assembly candidate Christy Smith’s election-returns party kept the mood buoyant despite no sign of a decision in either race.

The party took place in a music venue in the Westfield Valencia Town Center and outlasted the shopping mall, which shuttered before California returns began rolling in.

Just before 11 p.m., Hill thanked her supporters at the party and praised the more than 5,000 campaign volunteers who knocked on half a million doors in the district.

“We’re truly in a moment where Americans are standing up, where young people are standing up, where women are standing up,” she said.

As of early Wednesday morning, the Democrat and Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale) were neck and neck in the vote tally for the 25th Congressional District.

Republicans held narrow leads in three Senate races that were still not called early Wednesday, leaving the size of the Republican majority in the chamber uncertain the morning after ballots were cast.

The outcome in those races could boost the Republican advantage in the Senate to as wide as 54-46, giving the party a significantly larger cushion as President Trump attempts to expand his hold on federal courts and beat back the incoming Democratic majority in the House.

Before Tuesday’s balloting, Republicans held a tight 51-49 majority in the Senate, leaving little margin for close votes, especially lifetime appointments of federal judges, which both parties see as a priority issue.

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Democratic congressional candidate Mike Levin and and his wife Chrissy wave to supporters in Del Mar early Nov. 7 .

(Gregory Bull / Associated Press)

Leading in the vote count nearing midnight Tuesday and before the race had been called, a jubilant Mike Levin went ahead and claimed victory in the 49th Congressional District.

“We are going to win,” said Levin, an environmental attorney in Orange County, as he awaited a tally from the San Diego County registrar of voters.

In a crowded hotel ballroom in Del Mar, accompanied by his wife, Chrissy, his two children and his parents, he told several hundred enthusiastic supporters and campaign workers that it was time to celebrate.

“I am confident that thanks to you when all the votes are counted, we will have won the 49th District,” he said. “While we celebrate a great victory in the 49th District, it is not the only victory. The Democratic Party has won a victory.”

Levin was leading veteran Republican Diane Harkey, who served in the Assembly and now sits on the state Board of Equalization. They were battling to replace retired Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), who has held the seat since 2002.

When Levin mentioned Issa’s name, a roar of boos filled the room.

“Don’t boo Darrell Issa,” Levin said. “He gave me a call tonight to congratulate me.”

In fact, Issa had predicted Levin would win in a television interview earlier Wednesday, adding to the frustration of Harkey.

Levin had collected more than three times more funding than Harkey and dedicated the bulk of it to an active field operation that covered the two-county district. Harkey complained in the closing days of the race that national Republican donors had abandoned her campaign.

The seat was going to be a tough one for Harkey to keep in the GOP fold, given the demographic changes that have brought young, educated tech industry workers to the district. And she had to battle attacks by Levin on the failed financial scheme that her husband operated that took millions of dollars from elderly investors.

The district still has more Republicans than Democrats, but a large block of independents had the ability to swing the election either way. Issa’s victory margins had been growing thinner in the last few elections, reflecting the changes to the district.

Dana Rohrbacher speaks to members of the media at Skosh Monahan’s in Costa Mesa on Nov. 6..

(Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)

Longtime Rep. Dana Rohrabacher stood on stage at an Irish pub, next to an old surfboard that read, “Give me Liberty or Give me Surf,” and called his bid for reelection a race of “David against Goliath.”

A supporter shouted back, “Dana versus Goliath!”

Rohrabacher, a Republican who’s served in Congress for 30 years, told the supporters and volunteers at his election-night party that Democrats had spent wildly to try to defeat him.

“We’ve had billionaires coming from outside,” he said. “We’ve taken on Goliath. We’ve taken on billionaires.”

Even though his race against Democratic challenger Harley Rouda was too close to call Tuesday night, Rohrabacher told the crowd at Skosh Monahan’s, in a working-class stretch of Costa Mesa next to the 55 Freeway, that it was a night of mixed outcomes.

“I can’t say I’m pleased with the outcome in the rest of the country. We did lose control of the House,” he said. “That has to be balanced by the fact we’re going to be a lot stronger in the U.S. Senate.”

But he said he was looking forward to the results in his race: “I’m still very optimistic things are going to go my way.”

Mark Knoss, a neighbor of the bar and a Rohrabacher supporter who has campaigned for him in the past, said that if the congressman lost, it was because of his outspoken support of President Trump.

“Trump has soured me,” said Knoss, 61. “Dana two months ago started taking on Trump’s attributes.”

Democrat Josh Harder poses with supporters in Modesto on Nov. 6.

(Jazmine Ulloa / Los Angeles Times)

To resounding cheers and applause on Tuesday, Democratic congressional candidate Josh Harder took the stage at a downtown Modesto banquet hall and said he was proud of running a campaign that didn’t “get dragged down into the mud” but painted a brighter picture for the Central Valley.

“What we are seeing across our nation right now, in this community, is rebuke to the last two years ... rebuke to the politics of hate, of fear,” he said. “We don’t believe that. We reject that.”

If there has been any Central Valley congressional district with a shot of turning blue this election, it has been this one where Democrats hold a slight edge in registered voters and carried the last two presidential campaigns. And if there has been any candidate that supporters have believed could bridge the area’s growing urban-rural divide, it has been Harder.

The 32-year-old former venture capitalist made his return to the place where he was born and raised, galvanizing Democrats over Republican Rep. Jeff Denham’s vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Over the past days, volunteers have poured in from across the state to walk precincts and knock on doors for his campaign.

But Denham, 51, has long been a strong incumbent with wide support among farmers, veterans and white blue-collar voters. He has seized on Harder’s outside support to cast the 2018 election as a battle between the liberal values of the Bay Area and the conservative way of life of rural California.

The candidates’ reflection of their changing parties and of the Valley was captured in their campaign signs. Denham’s were large and tended to be found along long stretches of orchards and ranches. Harder’s were smaller, usually found in subdivisions encroaching on that farmland.

Those differences also were on display Tuesday at their election watch parties — Denham’s at a barn near Salida, Harder’s at a restaurant in downtown Modesto — and in the demographics of their attendees.

At Harder’s event, cumbias blasted from the speakers and the crowd was jubilant, though the race remained tight and was likely to remain uncalled for days. On stage, Harder stressed the real opponent has not been Denham but voter apathy and the belief that nothing in the country was going to change.

“It is going to be a long night,” he said. “We are going to make sure that every vote gets counted, but outside of that — we took back the House.”

California cemented its role as a defiant counterweight to the federal government on Tuesday as the state’s voters elected Gavin Newsom, an enthusiastic adversary of President Trump, as their next governor.

The Democratic lieutenant governor ran an unabashedly Trump-centric campaign, one that alternated between forceful confrontation and winking sarcasm, but always framed the president — rather than Republican opponent John Cox — as his rival.

But as campaign jabs give way to governing, Newsom must weigh his combative impulses against the complications of leading a state that is home to millions of Trump supporters — and one that is interdependent with the federal government.

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Bob Schieffer, the elder statesman of CBS News, has been part of the network’s midterm election coverage since 1970. But he was not getting into the prediction business on Tuesday night.

“I’ve never gone into one of these so unsure of what is going to happen,” he said as he prepared some notes in the green room at the CBS Broadcast Center before joining the “CBS This Morning” team to help analyze the results.

Network political teams, many of whom had been stunned by the surprise win of President Trump two years earlier, were generally cautious about predictions on who would control the House and Senate.

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Few can argue with California Democrats that their sweeping victories on Tuesday are a clear mandate to set in place an agenda for the state that will last well into the next decade. Less clear, though, is what those marching orders should be — and whether voters will embrace the full panoply of demands that have lurched the state’s dominant party leftward since the election of President Trump.

No one will face that task more directly than Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom. The 51-year old Democrat, who won a resounding victory over Republican challenger John Cox, will preside not only over the nation’s largest economy, but as leader of America’s most fierce resistance to Trump and the nationalist shift of mainstream GOP politics.

But the history of how Democrats came to dominate California politics over the past quarter-century is a story less about provocation than pragmatism. The majority of the state’s modern-era governors have been Republicans. And the electorate was rarely as liberal as its national reputation — socially moderate but fiscally stingy, environmentally progressive but solidly behind get-tough-on-crime efforts.

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Rep. Jacky Rosen

(Ethan Miller / Getty Images)

Rep. Jacky Rosen, dubbed “Wacky Jacky” by President Trump as he campaigned for Republican Sen. Dean Heller of Nevada, defeated the incumbent in a bitter race.

Heller, once a Trump critic, had allied with the president and welcomed his help, which proved a losing bet in a heavily Latino state where the president’s anti-immigration rhetoric was particularly incendiary.

John Cox, Republican candidate for California governor, gives his concession speech at the U.S. Grant Hotel in San Diego on Nov. 6.

(Howard Lipin / San Diego Union-Tribune)

Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox conceded defeat Tuesday night but told supporters in San Diego that he predicts a resurgence of the Republican Party in California and said he’s “not going anywhere.”

“Let me tell you, this Republican Party will be back in this state,” Cox said to applause. “And our path to success is going to be based on delivering the quality of life that people need so desperately.”

Cox was met with cheers as he took the podium in the U.S. Grant Hotel’s ballroom shortly after 9:30 p.m., telling the crowd that he’d called his opponent, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, wished him well and offered him assistance.

“We highlighted the incredible struggle that the people of this state have had for years under the people that are running this state,” Cox said. “We identified the needs of these people, the fact that they can’t afford housing, they can’t afford gasoline, they can’t afford the basics of life.”

Despite his loss, the mood in the hotel was upbeat as the crowd celebrated Republican wins in the U.S. Senate, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s victory over challenger Rep. Beto O’Rourke. Several men in the crowd wore red “Make America Great Again” hats. One infant was decked out in a red onesie and hat with the logo.

Steve Hasty, who runs the Tri-City Tea Party in Oceanside, said he was disappointed with Cox’s loss, but that “California is so blue, it’s going to be a long shot for anyone to win.”

Even in death, Dennis Hof remains larger than life.

The pimp and reality television star easily cruised to victory Tuesday in his race for a seat in the Nevada state Assembly — 21 days after his death.

Hof died Oct. 16 at the Love Ranch, his brothel just outside the city of Pahrump, after being found unresponsive by male porn star Ron Jeremy following a campaign event. The Clark County coroner’s office has not released a cause of death.

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Tony Evers argued that voters were tired of divisiveness and yearned for more collegial politics.

(Steve Apps / Associated Press)

Democrat Tony Evers ousted Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on Tuesday, denying the polarizing Republican and one-time presidential candidate a third term and succeeding where his party had failed in three previous attempts, including a 2012 recall.

Evers’ victory is a monumental win for Democrats and a steep fall for Walker, who just three years ago was seen as an early front-runner in the GOP primary for president. When Walker dropped out of the presidential race, he focused on rebuilding his low approval ratings in Wisconsin.

Walker had promised if he won the third term would have been his last, but voters decided that two was enough.

Evers, 67, a former teacher and state superintendent since 2009, used his folksy, nondescript personality to his advantage in the campaign, using words like “jeepers” and “holy mackerel” while arguing that voters were tired of divisiveness and yearned for more collegial politics.

The win gives Democrats a boost after President Trump narrowly carried Wisconsin by less than 1 point in 2016. It also puts Evers in position to dismantle much of what Walker and Republicans did over the past eight years, including rolling back portions of the law that effectively ended collective bargaining for public workers.

Democratic voters were ecstatic about ousting Walker.

“Tony Evers provides us with a new direction that a lot of people want to go,” said Danielle Moehring, 27, a scientist from Madison.

Moehring said she thought anger over Trump was motivating people to “come out of the woodwork,” get involved and vote.

Ellen Martin, a 67-year-old retired occupational therapist from Madison, said she voted for Evers because he will “save our state, especially the environment, education.”

Martin said she thought voters in Wisconsin were tired of Walker after eight years in office.

“I never liked him,” Martin said. “He’s shamed our state, embarrassed our state, ruined our politics.”

Evers, a cancer survivor, campaigned on supporting the national health care law and its guarantees of coverage for people with preexisting conditions. He also promised to cut middle class taxes by 10 percent, paid for by all-but repealing a manufacturing and agriculture tax credit program Walker enacted. Evers is also open to raising the gas tax to pay for road repair and construction, although he hasn’t released a specific plan.

Walker, the 51-year-old son of a Baptist preacher, swept into office in 2010, part of a Republican wave that saw the GOP take over control of the state Legislature as well. With Republican partners in the Statehouse, Walker pushed through a law that effectively ended collective bargaining for teachers and most public workers.

Anger over that law led to the failed 2012 recall election. Walker’s stature among conservatives and national profile skyrocketed after the union fight and the passage of a host of Republican priorities, including making Wisconsin a right-to-work state; cutting taxes by $8 billion; implementing a voter ID law; expanding the private school voucher program statewide; freezing tuition at the University of Wisconsin; rejecting federal Medicaid expansion money under the Affordable Care Act; and restricting access to abortion.

Walker ran for president in 2015, but dropped out before any votes were cast, out of money and down in the polls. His voter approval rating in Wisconsin dropped to its lowest levels.

Last year, working closely with the Trump administration, Walker signed a deal with Taiwan-based Foxconn to build a display screen factory in the state that could result in $10 billion in investments and 13,000 jobs. He’s pointed to that as signs of the state’s economic recovery.

Evers wants to renegotiate the deal, saying the potential $4 billion in state and local tax breaks for the Taiwan-based company is too much. Evers has also vowed, on his first day in office, to withdraw Wisconsin from a federal lawsuit seeking repeal of the Affordable Care Act.

(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Democratic state Atty. Gen. Xavier Becerra has been elected to a full term as California’s top cop, holding off a challenge from Republican Steven Bailey.

Becerra, a former congressman from Los Angeles, was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to replace the state’s former attorney general, Kamala Harris, after she was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016.

In his time in office, Becerra has made headlines by suing the Trump administration over a number of federal policies. Bailey is a retired defense attorney and judge from El Dorado County in Northern California.

Efforts to make voter registration easier. Marijuana legalization. Limits on abortion.

While the focus of Tuesday’s midterm election centered on control of Congress, voters nationwide weighed in on an array of ballot proposals. In total, voters in 37 states faced 155 ballot questions.

Here’s a look at some of those that passed .

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Sen. Dianne Feinstein

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

Sen. Dianne Feinstein fended off her first significant Democratic challenger in more than two decades today, beating state Sen. Kevin de LeĂłn to win a fifth full term.

De LeĂłn challenged Feinstein from the left in a deep blue state that has become more hyper-partisan since President Trump took office.

Feinstein’s reputation as a moderate has always been an advantage in facing Republicans in general elections. But under California’s new top-two voting system, she faced a fellow Democrat who attacked her for not doing more to stand up to Trump.

Voters backed Feinstein this time, but some experts say De León’s politics might end up better reflecting the future of the Democratic Party in California.

De LeĂłn, who served 2 1/2 years as leader of the California Senate, depended largely on retail politics, an impractical strategy in California but especially against Feinstein, who held a more than a 10-to-1 cash advantage over him.

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Claiming victory as California’s next governor, Gavin Newsom positioned the state as the alternative to so-called “Trumpism” and the rancorous tone of today’s politics.

“It’s been a long two years, but tonight, America’s biggest state is making America’s biggest statement,” Newsom told supporters Tuesday night. “We are saying, unmistakably and in unison, that it’s time to roll credits on the politics of chaos and cruelty.”

Trump went unnamed in Newsom’s speech, but implied contrasts ran through his remarks, as well as the pointed declaration that “the California dream has always been — and will always be — too big to fail and too powerful to bully.”

A mix of volunteers, politicos and lobbyists gathered to fete Newsom at the Exchange in downtown L.A., an imposing Moderne-style event space that was the historic home of the Los Angeles Stock Exchange. While Newsom’s win was expected by most, the mood was palpably anxious earlier in the evening, as attendees scoured results for Democrats nationwide. Once the Democratic takeover of the House of Representatives was assured, the atmosphere became more festive, with a performance by hip-hop artist Common injecting a dose of celebrity into the gathering.

Former Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles) said he expected Newsom’s contrasting message with Trump to continue when the governor-elect takes office, simply because the state’s political preferences differ so much from those of the president.

“I don’t think that Gavin Newsom will govern in reaction to the White House, but in support to the values that are essential to California,” Perez said. “The reality is those will be a stark contrast to what’s happening in the White House but it’s not because of who the occupant of the White House is.”

Proposition 11, which would require ambulance crews to be on call through their rest and meal breaks, was approved by voters on Tuesday.

Supporters have argued that mandatory rest breaks will unfairly raise costs for the industry and possibly lead to cutbacks in available ambulances in some communities. Opponents, led by labor unions representing the workers, argue the crews are tired and overworked, making them less effective in the event of an emergency.

Proposition 8 sought to limit dialysis clinics’ profits.

(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)

Proposition 8, which would have imposed a cap on the profits earned by large dialysis companies such as DaVita, was defeated by voters on Tuesday.

Sponsored by the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers, the measure would have shrunk the profits of hundreds of dialysis clinics across California, requiring clinics to provide rebates to insurers and pay a penalty to the state on business revenue that exceed 115% of certain costs to deliver care.

A coalition led by DaVita and Fresenius Medical Care, the two companies that control a combined 72% of the dialysis market in California, has given $110 million to a campaign to beat the measure — contributing to the most money raised for such a campaign in state history.

San Francisco voters were leaning toward approving a ballot measure that would tax corporate businesses to fund services for the homeless, according to early results Tuesday night.

Proposition C, a tax on gross annual receipts of the city’s largest companies, was leading handily in preliminary returns. If it passes, it will nearly double San Francisco’s budget dedicated to the curbing homelessness by adding $300 million a year to fund housing, shelters, mental health services and preventive measures.

About 400 businesses, which make up the top 20% of the city’s job base, would be subject to the tax, according to an analysis by City Controller Ben Rosenfield.

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A sunset in Redondo Beach.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times )

Californians approved Proposition 7 on Tuesday, giving the Legislature the power to enact year-round daylight saving time if Congress allows states to do so.

The measure would conceivably also allow lawmakers to enact year-round standard time — currently used by Arizona and Hawaii — because the measure mostly would abolish a 1949 ballot measure that enshrined the changing of the clocks in state law.

Democrat Janet Mills, the attorney general of Maine, was the first woman elected governor of the state. In South Dakota, Republican Rep. Kristi Noem was the first woman elected to the post.

And in New Mexico, Democratic Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham was the first Democratic Latina to be elected governor in the U.S.

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(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)

California voters on Tuesday defeated Proposition 6, which would have repealed recent increases in the state gas tax and vehicle fees to provide more than $5 billion annually for road and bridge repairs and mass transit.

Top Republicans including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin and California gubernatorial candidate John Cox put the initiative on the ballot in hopes of boosting conservative voter turnout for the party’s candidates for Congress and governor.

However, after collecting more than the 585,407 signatures of registered voters required to put the measure on the ballot, the money from Republican leaders dried up.

Gov. Jerry Brown helped raise funds to defeat Proposition 6, which would repeal Senate Bill 1, legislation approved by state lawmakers and signed by Brown in April 2017.

The legislation raised the state gas tax by 12 cents a gallon and boosted the diesel fuel tax by 20 cents a gallon. The measure also created a new annual vehicle fee ranging from $25 for cars valued at less than $5,000 to $175 for cars worth $60,000 or more.

In addition to repealing SB 1, the initiative would have required state officials to obtain voter approval of all future increases to state gas taxes.

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Proposition 12 would require farmers to provide better living conditions for egg-laying hens, veal calves and breeding pigs.

(Marcio Jose Sanchez / Associated Press)

Proposition 12, a statewide ballot measure that would phase in requirements to provide more space for egg-laying hens, breeding pigs and calves raised for veal in California, was approved by voters Tuesday.

Starting in 2020, the measure bans the sale of eggs from hens confined to an area with less than 1 square foot of usable floor space per animal. And beginning in 2022, hens must be kept “cage-free,” although that could include an indoor area that provides 1 to 1.5 square feet of space for each hen as long as they can move throughout the structure.

In 2008, PETA and the Humane Society campaigned in support of Proposition 2, a California initiative that was approved by voters and that requires hens, veal calves and pigs to be kept in sufficient space to be able to turn around freely, lie down, stand up and fully extend their limbs.

While many farms installed bigger cages, the Humane Society sought to build on the 2008 measure with this year’s Proposition 12.

Anaheim City Council candidates who are supported by the city’s biggest employer — the Disneyland Resort — were leading a wide field of hopefuls in early returns Tuesday night, but voters were split on a controversial “living wage” initiative that Disney has opposed.

The politics in Anaheim have recently centered on whether the Disneyland Resort, the source of nearly half of the city’s general fund revenue, is paying enough local taxes and whether it should be offering its workers higher wages.

Harry Sidhu, a businessman and former mayor pro tem who received campaign donations from Disney, was leading a field of eight candidates in the race to replace Mayor Tom Tait, an ardent Disney critic who has to step down because of term limits.

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(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press )

GOP Rep. Devin Nunes has warded off the toughest political challenge he faced in years, claiming victory over Democrat Andrew Janz in California’s 22nd Congressional District.

The eight-term incumbent was once a nearly untouchable political figure in his solidly Republican district in the Central Valley. But the race drew national attention and millions of dollars into both candidates’ war chests as Nunes became a staunch protector of President Trump from the Russia investigation.

Janz, a 34-year-old Fresno County prosecutor, decided to challenge Nunes after Trump’s election. National Democrats chose not to fund him amid the unfavorable odds in the solidly Republican region.

Spanning the more conservative parts of Fresno and Tulare counties, the district leans toward the GOP in voter registration by about 9 percentage points. Nunes, 45, has spent much of his career focused on water storage and irrigation. But he increasingly came under scrutiny on several fronts: his actions to protect Trump, his family’s out-of-state dairy farm and what some call his lack of responsiveness to constituents.

In more recent months, he had taken to the television and radio airwaves to attack not his opponent but the local newspaper, the Fresno Bee, which had angered him with harsh editorials and less-than-flattering news stories.

(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)

California voters have decisively rejected Proposition 10 on Tuesday, an initiative that would have expanded rent control across the state.

With its failure, a statewide ban on most new forms of rent control remains in effect.

The campaign to expand rent control was pitched to voters as California renters continue to face pressure from rising housing costs. A total of 9.5 million renters — more than half of California’s tenant population — are burdened by high rents, spending at least 30% of their income on housing costs, according to a UC Berkeley study.

Live results from the 2018 midterm elections »

To address the issue, tenant advocates decided to go after the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, a state law passed 23 years ago that blocks cities and counties from imposing rent control on single-family homes and apartments built after 1995, among other prohibitions. After a bill to repeal Costa-Hawkins failed in a legislative committee in January, groups turned in signatures for a ballot measure, Proposition 10, which would have done the same thing.

Had the initiative passed, local governments would have been free to add new restrictions on rents, something Los Angeles, Berkeley and other cities were considering.

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Ebere Amadi, 18, voted at Pomona College.

First-time voter Ebere Amadi, 18, voted at Pomona College.

After denouncing her on the campaign trail for more than a month, President Trump congratulated House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi on Tuesday night for her party’s having retaken control of the House.

He called shortly after Pelosi’s remarks, which were broadcast on the main cable networks.

“President Trump called Leader Pelosi at 11:45 p.m. this evening to extend his congratulations on winning a Democratic House Majority,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill tweeted. “He acknowledged the Leader’s call for bipartisanship in her victory remarks.”

Just a few hours earlier, before control of the House had been decided, press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in an interview that it was unlikely Trump would reach out to Pelosi should Democrats win back the majority.

“Look I’m not sure why you would call Nancy Pelosi considering a lot of members of her own party have said they wouldn’t support her,” Sanders said. “If Democrats win tonight, I think we need to wait and see who their speaker is.”

Pelosi, a polarizing figure Republicans have run against for several election cycles, is likely to win the speakership again, even though some members and members-elect have said they would not support her.

Trump had bashed Pelosi for weeks, trying to depict her party as a “mob” intent on crashing the country’s economy and allowing an influx of illegal immigrants. But he has also said he might try to forge deals with the Democrats on some subjects.

Very early returns Tuesday in the Orange County district attorney’s race showed Todd Spitzer, challenger to incumbent Tony Rackauckas, with a notable lead.

The election culminated months of flame-throwing between Rackauckas, who has held the position for two decades, and Spitzer, his former protégé. The winner will lead an office that handles more than 60,000 cases a year and wields an annual budget of about $145 million.

The race for Orange County’s top prosecutor was among the ugliest in Southern California, and a key test for an office that has been repeatedly rocked by scandal in recent years.

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President Trump called Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) to congratulate her on Democrats’ winning majority control of the U.S. House, according to the House minority leader’s chief of staff.

Earlier in the night, Trump tweeted about Republicans’ continued control of the U.S. Senate.

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House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks at a victory party in Washington.

The top House Democrat promised Tuesday night that the party will use its new majority to serve as a check on the Trump administration but promised to strive for bipartisanship.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi — who promises to overcome an intraparty challenge to become House speaker again — said Tuesday’s election is about “restoring the Constitution’s checks and balances to the Trump administration.”

“The American people have spoken,” she said at the House Democrats’ election night party. “Tomorrow will be a new day in America.”

The San Francisco Democrat tried to strike a tone of unity. “We will strive for bipartisanship with fairness for all sides, responsibility to find common ground where we can, stand our ground where we can’t,” she said.

Pelosi promised that House Democrats would pursue legislation to address rising healthcare costs, dark money in politics and infrastructure.

She entered the ballroom to chants of “Speaker! Speaker!” but did not address the coming leadership race. Despite calls for new leaders from a minority in her party, Pelosi has said previously that she expects to regain the speaker’s gavel.

Gavin Newsom

(Josh Edelson / For the Times)

Gavin Newsom won a decisive victory for governor Tuesday night, placing the risk-taking liberal at the center of the resistance to President Trump at a critical moment for California.

Newsom is expected to shift state politics and policy even further to the left after eight years of Gov. Jerry Brown, a pragmatic Democrat known for his fiscal restraint and distaste for expensive new social programs.

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Jared Polis speaks to canvassers before they set out to talk to voters on Saturday, Nov. 3 in Denver.

(David Zalubowski / AP)

Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Polis on Tuesday defeated Republican state Treasurer Walker Stapleton in the Colorado governor’s race, keeping the seat in Democratic hands.

Polis will succeed the term-limited John Hickenlooper to become Colorado’s first openly gay governor. The 43-year-old is a five-term congressman and technology entrepreneur who promised to fight for universal healthcare, renewable energy standards and publicly funded preschool and kindergarten. He vowed to stand up to President Trump’s efforts to dismantle former President Obama’s healthcare law.

Stapleton is a two-term state treasurer who campaigned on defending Colorado’s constitutional restrictions on taxing and spending. The 44-year-old Stapleton insisted that Polis’ ideas for funding K-12 education, roads and energy would bankrupt the state.

Colorado has not had a Republican governor since 2007. The state has one of the nation’s lowest unemployment rates and highest rates of economic growth, largely fueled by the tech, aerospace and oil and gas industries.

Polis banked on defending Obama’s healthcare law and riding a wave of anti-Trump sentiment in a state that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and saw overwhelming Democratic turnout in June’s party primaries.

Stapleton sought to court unaffiliated voters, Colorado’s largest voting bloc, by insisting that Polis would jeopardize economic growth with costly and ill-defined proposals to fund schools and roads and expand healthcare.

Stapleton portrayed himself as a defender of conservative fiscal policies that underlie that growth. Polis repeatedly promised to build bipartisan coalitions to invest in underfunded roads and public schools — suggesting the time has come to ask Colorado residents to loosen their strict constitutional limits on taxes and spending.

Healthcare was a top issue in the race. Many Colorado rural and mountain towns pay some of the nation’s highest insurance premiums — and have only one provider — under the Affordable Care Act.

Polis, endorsed by single-payer healthcare proponent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, unapologetically called for universal healthcare coverage as a long-term goal and suggested a first step might be to create a regional market with neighboring states.

Stapleton praised Trump’s elimination of tax penalties for those without health insurance but said he would defend an expanded Medicaid program that covers 1 in 4 Colorado residents.

Trump endorsed Stapleton, who embraced the administration’s antipathy toward so-called sanctuary cities that don’t closely cooperate with federal immigration authorities. But Stapleton sought to distance himself from Trump in the campaign’s final weeks, arguing that Trump’s scornful tweets about immigrants, women and minorities had no bearing on policy in the governor’s race.

“I’m not going to sit here and defend President Trump’s personality,” Stapleton said in one debate.

Citing the threat of climate change to Colorado’s outdoors industry, Polis proposed a 100% renewable energy standard for Colorado by 2040. Stapleton attacked the goal, saying it would harm Colorado’s $31-billion oil and gas industry. Polis, who raised the ire of the fossil fuels industry by once supporting limits on drilling, insisted the green standard was a goal, not a mandate.

On abortion, Polis insisted that he would guarantee women’s right to choose if a conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court were to overturn Roe vs. Wade, the 1973 decision that established a nationwide right to abortion. Stapleton said he would be a “pro-life governor” who would respect Roe as “the law of the land” but didn’t say what he would do if the decision were overturned.

As Stapleton trailed in the polls, he tried to argue that his opponent acted aggressively toward a woman in a 1999 workplace incident in which Polis, then 24, tried to stop a female employee from stealing documents from a company he ran. Police and prosecutors concluded Polis was the victim of theft and did nothing wrong.

(Al Goldis / Associated Press)

The first two Muslim women were elected to the U.S. House.

Democratic Minnesota state legislator Ilhan Omar won her race in Minnesota’s 5th Congressional District and former Michigan state Rep. Rashida Tlaib won in Michigan’s 13th Congressional District.

Omar is also the first Somali elected to Congress.

Tlaib won the Democratic nomination in the primary to fill the seat of former Rep. John Conyers Jr., who resigned amid sexual harassment allegations.

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Democrats took control of the House in a dramatic midterm rebuke to President Trump. Putting them in the majority, voters gave Democrats a check on Trump and his agenda and the power to investigate him and his administration.

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(Charlie Riedel / Associated Press; Thad Allton / Associated Press)

TOPEKA, Kan. — Traditionally red Kansas leaned left Tuesday night, electing a Democrat to the governor’s seat and rejecting Republican Kris Kobach, one of President Trump’s most ardent supporters.

The victory of Laura Kelly, a state senator, was powered in part by moderate, anti-Kobach Republicans crossing party lines. It paves the way for Medicaid expansion in the state, which had been vetoed by Republican Sam Brownback when he was governor.

At least one of the state’s four congressional seats went Democratic as the Kansas City suburbs continued their years-long drift to the left and upstart Sharice Davids, a former MMA fighter, unseated Republican incumbent Rep. Kevin Yoder in the state’s 3rd Congressional District.

The governor’s race was seen less a referendum on Trump than on Brownback, who passed a large tax cut in 2012 that destabilized the state government’s finances and made him deeply unpopular.

Kobach, the current secretary of state and a news-making firebrand known for hardline stances on immigration and voting requirements, had enjoyed near-universal name recognition in the state but also carried a large unfavorable rating. He supported reinstating the Brownback tax cuts, which were reversed by the state Legislature last year after moderate Republicans seized power from their more conservative counterparts.

For the Record, 5:38 a.m. Nov. 7: An earlier version of this post referred to Sharice Davids as a former WWE fighter. She is a former MMA fighter.

Florida elected Trump stalwart Rep. Ron DeSantis as governor today, rejecting Democrat Andrew Gillum’s strong bid to be its first black chief.

DeSantis, one of the president’s most vocal allies in Congress, shares his victory with Trump, the part-time Florida resident who repeatedly campaigned for him and against Gillum, Tallahassee’s mayor, calling Gillum, without evidence, corrupt and incapable of doing the job.

Before Associated Press called the race, Gillum conceded.

Democrat Lauren Underwood.

( (Teresa Crawford / Associated Press))

Democrat Lauren Underwood defeated Republican Rep. Randy Hultgren in the far suburbs of Chicago, a high-profile pickup for Democrats in a district that President Trump won by nearly 4 percentage points.

Two years ago, Democrats said they would target the district, but it was considered a long shot, given Trump’s popularity and Hultgren’s history of defeating challengers by nearly 20 percentage points.

Underwood, a 32-year-old African American woman and nurse, quickly raised money and made healthcare a key issue. She said Hultgren’s vote for Obamacare prompted her to run. “I decided: You know what? It’s on. I’m running,” she told constituents in a wine bar in Wauconda, Ill., last month.

Underwood’s victory underscores just how widely Democrats were able to stretch the electoral map this year. Hultgren, who first won his seat in the 2010 conservative tea party wave, told The Times last month that he expected his district to be safe but warned that it would decided by turnout.

People cast ballots at an early voting center at UC Irvine a week before election day.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The time has come, Californians.

The polls have closed.

The good news is that if you are already in line at your polling place, you can still cast a ballot.

Read The Times’ coverage:

Live updates as we track major U.S. House, Senate and gubernatorial races in California and across the country

Where California candidates for governor John Cox and Gavin Newsom stand on top issues

5 things to watch for in California’s tight congressional races

Will California flip the House? The key races to watch

Jon Navarro, 40, of Fullerton and his daughter Elena.

(Christine Mai-Duc / Los Angeles Times)

Jon Navarro is usually in the minority. The cabinet maker from Fullerton is a father of three daughters, and his wife has five sisters.

“I’m around a lot of women,” said Navarro, 40, who had his 4-year-old, pigtailed and smiling Elena, in tow as he voted at Fern Drive Elementary School in Fullerton.

He was incensed when he listened to news coverage of the Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Brett M. Kavanaugh. And he especially didn’t like the way President Trump commented on the matter.

“I want everybody to be equal,” he said. “I want my daughters to be strong, powerful women.” (Elena wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up.)

He said he cast a ballot for Gil Cisneros, the Democrat running in the 39th Congressional District, primarily to send a message opposing Trump.

Immigration reform was another priority for him.

“To build a border wall is absolutely insane,” he said. “You’re not accomplishing anything and we should be a more global society.”

Sen. Ted Cruz.

(Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

Sen. Ted Cruz held off a bold challenge from Democrat Beto O’Rourke to keep the Texas Senate seat in Republican hands.

Cruz, aided by 2016 rival President Trump, won a second term after a tough race with O’Rourke, who passionately campaigned in an effort to prove that long-red Texas could again elect a Democrat to the Senate. Though his bid fell short, O’Rourke’s efforts excited voters in the state and nationally, bringing in millions of dollars.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

(J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press)

Republicans kept Senate control with a narrow majority helped by a favorable election map.

Despite widespread dissatisfaction with President Trump’s performance, voters kept the Senate in his party’s control and maintained Republicans’ power to reshape the federal judiciary and to protect the president against investigations.

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Mylien Collins sips tea before casting her ballot at the Luxe Sunset Boulevard Hotel.

(Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Along Sunset Boulevard, just past the hellish traffic on the 405 Freeway, is a heavenly place where Angelenos gather to vote.

At the Luxe Hotel, the official polling place for residents living in and around the Brentwood and Bel-Air areas, voters are treated to valet parking, finger sandwiches and a soothing tea dubbed “The Midterm Elixir.”

Oh, there’s also a flutist jamming out some Mozart and other classical gems.

These perks are part of the luxury hotel’s effort to provide a calm voting experience amid a contentious midterm election. The serene setting is in contrast with other polling places not just across Los Angeles County but countrywide, where there have been reports of lines snaking around street corners, malfunctioning machines and other problems hindering voters from casting their ballots.

The “Midterm Elixir” is a hand-blended tea that includes minty and floral notes and was created solely for Tuesday’s election. Additionally, lavender plants and olive branches decorated the table where the tea and sandwiches were laid out. Another sign of the efforts to create a tranquil environment.

Sarah Clark, executive manager at the hotel, said previous elections have included yoga sessions, sitar players and a harp player.

“It’s one of the most stressful days of the year, but this year, for the midterm elections, there’s been nothing like it, in terms of the stress levels,” she said.

Efrem Harkham, chief executive and chairman of Luxe Hotel, came up with the idea hoping that voters would not only feel less anxious about the voting process but welcomed by a neighbor.

“His whole idea is no one should ever vote on an empty stomach, and it really is about being here for the community and make it as stress-less as possible,” Clark said.

Just how different was this election for Luxe Hotel? For the first time it had people waiting in line to vote before the polling place opened. Usually, the lines begin to form by 8 a.m., Clark said.

“The traffic was terrible, I was rattled and angry,” said Henry, a 30-year resident who declined to give his last name. “There’s almost an academic understanding of what you’re doing and then you come here and it’s like a zen corridor. I look forward to coming here. I just love relaxing in this place.”

Eating a chicken salad, 50-year-old Josh Davis said he looked forward to voting at the polling place.

“I consider myself very lucky,” Davis said. “It makes you want to go out and vote, and I also love it because my son also sees it’s not as stressful when you do.”

Among the issues he considered important was the superintendent of public instruction. As for the governor’s race, he said he went with Gavin Newsom, a candidate he and his wife feel would be more effective at running California.

Hours before polls closed on Tuesday, President Trump already was blaming retiring Speaker Paul D. Ryan for not doing enough to support his agenda and keep the House in Republican hands.

That bit of blame-gamesmanship is according to a Trump supporter who was on a call that the president had with surrogates as voters cast final ballots, but who asked to remain anonymous while talking about the private conversation. Trump’s criticism of Ryan, with whom he’s never had a close relationship, was in keeping with the president’s comments to associates throughout the week leading up to election day.

In those earlier private exchanges, the supporter said, Trump sought reassurance that a political setback for Republicans — in particular the widely projected loss of their House majority — couldn’t be laid at his feet.

That person, echoing Trump’s complaints that congressional Republicans hadn’t fought hard enough for him, pointed to party leadership resisting the president’s requests to finance his proposed wall on the southern border.

On Fox News on Tuesday night, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that “the candidates who have embraced the president … are candidates that we see doing very well tonight.”

Marsha Blackburn watches returns in her race for the U.S. Senate.

(Mark Humphrey / Associated Press)

Republican U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn won a grueling, expensive contest Tuesday to become the first female U.S. senator from Tennessee, keeping a key midterm seat under GOP control.

The congresswoman defeated Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen by closely aligning her bid with President Trump, who drummed up support for her during three visits to the state that he won by 26 percentage points, including a rally in Chattanooga two days before the election.

Blackburn’s win represents a rightward shift from the retiring GOP senator she will replace, Bob Corker, who fell in line with Tennessee’s historical preference for more-centrist senators and at times was a vocal critic of Trump.

Blackburn worked to undermine Bredesen’s popularity and reputation as an independent thinker by tying him to national Democrats at every turn. She rarely diverged from Trump and touted his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall and tax cuts while blasting Bredesen’s opposition to both. She backed Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court the same day Trump nominated him and criticized Bredesen for taking so long to say he would have supported Kavanaugh’s confirmation as well.

First elected to the House in 2002, Blackburn aligned with the tea party movement and regularly appeared on Fox News. She opened her campaign by dubbing herself a “hard-core, card-carrying Tennessee conservative.” Before that, she made a name for herself as a state lawmaker who helped lead the revolt against a proposed Tennessee income tax in the early 2000s.

The pricey race set a state record in spending by candidates and outside groups, gaining national interest because of its potential implications for the GOP’s slim majority in the Senate.

Pop superstar Taylor Swift even broke her political silence for the Tennessee contest when she went on Instagram to endorse Bredesen and encourage people to vote.

Blackburn took aim at Bredesen for donating to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and receiving campaign checks from high-profile Democrats. Although Bredesen largely kept his distance from other well-known Democrats, Blackburn had no qualms bringing Trump and fellow national Republicans to Tennessee.

She welcomed in Vice President Mike Pence twice. The president’s son Eric Trump and U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina also came along for separate campaign events.

Corker, the outgoing senator, had backed Blackburn but refused to campaign against Bredesen, whom he considers a friend. Corker briefly heard out pleas from some peers last winter that he reconsider retirement, prompting a Blackburn spokeswoman to say anyone who thinks she can’t win the general election is a “plain sexist pig.”

Afterward though, she managed to consolidate support across the GOP’s various political circles, including from former U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, who briefly opposed her in the primary and called for Corker to run again upon dropping out of the race.

Caregiver Phuong Le rushed out of the house to run errands Tuesday morning, checking off her top task: hand-delivering her ballot to the Westminster Library polling station.

“I have to make sure it is not lost. I understand every vote is important,” said the longtime Westminster resident, 61.

Counting down the weeks before the election, she dutifully listened to Little Saigon Radio and surfed multiple TV stations in both English and Vietnamese to memorize names and issues.

In the City Council races, one name stood out to her: Tai Do, whose job as a police officer inspired a sense of trust, she said. She also voted for state Sen. Janet Nguyen, running for reelection, saying, “It’s because she’s so active in advocating for all the good causes, including my favorite measure of requiring Vietnamese history to be a part of the curriculum for our students. When we are old, we need the young to know their past so they can make better decisions.”

Voting is “an honor” that her parents especially value, according to Le, who says she talks over issues with them, who are in their 90s, as well as her husband, making sure she also drops off all their ballots in person.

“Even my father reminds me, he doesn’t want to miss the chance to vote,” she said. “We are lucky we have this opportunity.”

“I understand every vote is important,” says Phuong Le of Westminister.

(Anh Do / Los Angeles Times )

Texas is sending its first two Latinas to Congress.

Both Democrats, state Sen. Sylvia Garcia won her U.S. House race in Congressional District 29 and former county Judge Veronica Escobar won hers in Congressional District 16.

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez embraces a supporter at a polling site after voting in the Parkchester community in Bronx, N.Y.

(Bebeto Matthews / Associated Press)

Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has defeated a little-known Republican opponent in a district representing part of New York City.

Her victory Tuesday over economics professor Anthony Pappas was widely expected after Ocasio-Cortez scored an unanticipated upset over 10-term U.S. Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary in June.

At 29 years old, Ocasio-Cortez would become the youngest member of Congress.

She is one of a handful of Congressional candidates who identified as democratic socialists.

Ocasio-Cortez has promised to try and push the Democratic party further to the left.

She supports government-paid healthcare for all, a $15 minimum wage, free college tuition and the abolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Cat Reese, 53, casts a ballot at Fern Drive Elementary School in Fullerton.

(Christine Mai-Duc / Los Angeles Times)

Cat Reese didn’t hesitate when asked who she voted for in the 39th Congressional District.

“Young Kim,” she said. “Anything conservative. I’m voting a straight Republican ticket. I am the red wave; I am a full-on Trump supporter.”

Reese said supporting Trump and his immigration policies was her top motivator in this election.

“We’re having a huge influx of people who are trying to take over and get freebies,” she said. “It sounds all great to let everybody in, open our borders and hug it out with everyone, but it’s not the right thing.”

She said she disagrees with providing healthcare and other benefits to immigrants in the country illegally. “That raises our taxes; it’s an easy math equation,” she said. “That makes it harder for us hard-working Americans.”

Reese concluded with a question of her own, which probably doesn’t get asked often in Orange County: “Please tell me there’s more of me out there. Are there a lot of them?”

Dennis Whitlow Jr., 46, of Lake Forest was at a polling place with his son, Dennis III, who was voting for the first time.

(Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times)

During the 2016 presidential election, Dennis Whitlow Jr. was heartbroken when his son asked him a question about Donald Trump.

“How can America elect somebody that makes fun of disabled people?” his son, Dennis III, asked him at the time, Whitlow recalled.

The insult had felt personal, he said, because his son is autistic.

On Tuesday, he showed up to the polls at a Lake Forest clubhouse with his son as the younger Whitlow cast his first-ever ballot.

His son didn’t want to talk about how he voted — he went with his gut — but the older Whitlow said the choice was easy.

“Straight Democratic this time,” said the registered independent, who said he usually splits his ballot.

The 46-year-old web developer said he was concerned the incumbent, Rep. Mimi Walters (R-Laguna Beach), was too closely aligned with Trump.

“She basically gave him a ticket to do whatever he wanted,” he said. “We need checks and balances. It’s basically one group in charge.”

Most Florida felons who have finished their sentences will be able to vote again in future elections.

Voters on Tuesday approved Amendment 4, which says that most felons will automatically have their voting rights restored when they complete their sentences or go on probation. The amendment exempts those convicted of sex offenses and murder.

Supporters said the state’s current system was too onerous. It required felons to wait at least five years after completing their sentence before they could file a request with the governor and Cabinet. About 1.5 million people are affected. Nearly all states allow felons to vote after completing their sentences.

Opponents argued that the measure treats all felons alike and takes away the ability to judge each individually.

The measure was placed on the ballot by petition.

Mackenzie Malerstein, 25, of Tustin said she felt more strongly about state ballot propositions than federal candidates.

(Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times)

After a year in Japan, Mackenzie Malerstein was excited to have returned to California in time to cast a ballot in Tuesday’s election.

The nation may be focused on the congressional races in Orange County that could determine which party controls the House, but Malerstein said it was some of the state propositions that were more dear to her heart.

Especially Proposition 12, about the treatment of chickens.

“I’m vegetarian, and even though I don’t partake in those practices, I care about animals,” said Malerstein, a school behavioral interventionist.

Also close to home was Proposition 10, which could give cities the authority to expand rent control laws. The last landlord she had before moving to Japan increased her rent by $300 as soon as her lease was up.

As for the candidates on the ballot, Malerstein said she researched whether any had policy positions that aligned with President Trump.

”Candidates who supported things that Trump supported, like the wall, that steered my decision to vote against them,” the Tustin resident said.

(AFP/Getty Images)

Massachusetts elected its first black woman representative to the U.S. House.

Democratic candidate Ayanna Pressley, the first black woman elected to the Boston City Council, ousted veteran Democratic Rep. Michael E. Capuano in the primary. Pressley candidate ran unopposed.

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Lacey Kraft, 34, and her daughter, Lexie, go to the polls in Fullerton.

(Christine Mai-Duc / Los Angeles Times)

Lacey Kraft has been registered to vote for 16 years, but today was the first time she cast a ballot.

She knew voting was important, but politics had always intimidated her.

“It’s so important it scared me almost, if I chose the wrong ones. It still does,” she said, standing next to her 5-year-old daughter, Lexie. When Kraft’s father found out recently that she’d never voted, he gave her a stern talking-to.

She said she was also motivated to vote by President Trump, whom she called a “bully.”

So she studied up and went to the polls Tuesday.

But the resident of the 39th Congressional District, which could be key to which party controls the House, didn’t vote in the race between Democrat Gil Cisneros and Republican Young Kim. She focused instead on local school board races and the statewide ballot measures, leaving the rest of her ballot blank.

“It was overwhelming, and it snuck up on me,” she said of the election. “It’s very embarrassing that I haven’t voted, and I actually haven’t shared that with many people.… I kind of look at it as an accomplishment, and now I’m hoping I can do better research for the next election.”

The Kentucky clerk who went to jail in 2015 for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples has lost her bid for a second term.

Republican incumbent Kim Davis was defeated by Democrat Elwood Caudill Jr. in Tuesday’s election for clerk of Rowan County in northeastern Kentucky.

Caudill is well known in the county, having worked for the county Property Valuation Administrator’s Office for 21 years. He lost to Davis by just 23 votes in the 2014 Democratic primary. Davis later switched to the GOP.

Davis went from obscure local official to a national figure when she stopped issuing marriage licenses days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the U.S. Constitution guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry. The ruling overturned same-sex marriage bans nationwide.

Davis cited her religious beliefs for her action, saying she was acting under “God’s authority.” She was released from jail when her staff issued licenses in her absence.

The deluge of voters at the Simi Valley Masonic Lodge, where half a dozen voters had queued up at 6:30 in the morning, had slowed to a trickle by the time T.J. Tolliver came to cast his ballot early Tuesday afternoon.

“I think that every citizen should vote, so I voted for what I thought would improve our life,” said Tolliver, adding that he was concerned most with increasing access to housing, education and healthcare.

Trump wasn’t a big factor in his vote, the 26-year-old substitute teacher and caterer said, pointing instead to the state ballot measures that dealt with issues he cared about.

His vote for Democrat Katie Hill in the House race was borne mainly out of a dislike for career politicians and what he understood as the pro-Trump positions of Republican Rep. Steve Knight (R-Palmdale), his congressman in the 25th Congressional District.

Tolliver said he was most disappointed with the elevated rhetoric he saw both Democrats and Republicans employ. He said both sides needed to calm down and focus on reuniting the country rather than pushing two alternative truths.

Tolliver’s independent-mindedness was a factor in previous elections: In 2016, he voted for Green Party nominee Jill Stein for president.

Voters showed up by the dozens to put their “I Voted” stickers on the headstone of Susan B. Anthony, an election day ritual that pays homage to the women’s voting rights pioneer.

Deborah L. Hughes, president and chief executive of the National Susan B. Anthony Museum and House, said there were already a few dozen stickers decorating the gravesite by the time she arrived about 10 a.m. Images of the headstone covered in voting stickers quickly became widely shared on social media.

Jessica Crane drove 40 minutes to add her sticker to celebrate “everything we have accomplished and have yet to accomplish.”

Visiting Anthony’s gravesite on election day has become a popular ritual in recent years. Hughes said thousands turned out in 2016 for the presidential matchup between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Voters line up at a polling station in Las Vegas.

(David Becker / Getty Images)

Early returns from around the country indicate unusually high turnout for a midterm election in several key states.

One in six voters were casting ballots for the first time in a midterm, according to an exit poll conducted for several of the major television networks

Both the network exit poll and a separate survey of 113,677 voters nationwide conducted for the Associated Press showed widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the nation.

In the AP poll, about 6 in 10 voters said the country was headed in the wrong direction despite the fact that about two-thirds said the economy was in good shape. In the network poll, 56% said the country was on the wrong track, compared with 41% who said it was headed in the right direction.

About two-thirds of voters in both surveys said that President Trump was a major factor in their vote.

Nearly 40% of voters cast their ballots to express opposition to the president, according to AP VoteCast, a national survey of the electorate; about 25% said they voted to express support for Trump.

In the network poll, 54% disapproved of Trump’s job performance and 47% strongly disapproved, compared with 44% who approved. The share who strongly disapproved of the president was several points higher than the share who felt that way about President Obama in 2010, when his party lost control of the House.

About 1 in 4 voters in the network poll said their vote expressed support of Trump, and about 4 in 10 said their vote was in opposition to him.

Nationally, the electorate was more diverse than in past midterms. Nonwhite voters accounted for 28% of those casting ballots, according to the preliminary results of the network exit poll. In 2014, nonwhite voters made up 25% of the electorate. The racial makeup of the electorate more closely resembled a presidential election than a midterm, the exit poll indicated.

Both polls showed that healthcare was the top issue on voters’ minds. In the network exit poll, 41% cited that as their top issue, compared with 21% who said the economy and 23% who said immigration.

Democrats had centered their campaign around healthcare, emphasizing Republican votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act and its protections for people with preexisting health conditions.

Asked which party would better protect those people, voters favored the Democrats 58% to 34%, the network exit poll found.

5:46 p.m. This article was updated with exit poll data on voter diversity. This article was first published at 4:51 p.m.

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Grammy-nominated artist Moby performs at a Katie Porter rally on election day.

Grammy-nominated musician Moby broke out the acoustic guitar at a rally for Democrat Katie Porter in Tustin on Tuesday. Porter is running against Rep. Mimi Walters of Laguna Beach in California’s 45th Congressional District.

Singers Mindy Jones, middle, and Julie Mintz joined Moby onstage.

Live results >>

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Donna Shalala speaks to volunteers in Coral Gables, Fla.

(Wilfredo Lee / AP Photo)

Former U.S. Cabinet secretary Donna Shalala has won election to a House seat in Florida, flipping it into the Democratic column for the first time in decades.

Shalala defeated Republican former television journalist Maria Elvira Salazar on Tuesday in the Miami area’s 27th District. It’s the first foray into elective politics for the 77-year-old Shalala, who was President Bill Clinton’s secretary of Health and Human Services throughout the 1990s.

Shalala also was president of the universities of Wisconsin and Miami and headed the Clinton Foundation from 2015-2017.

The district has long been represented by retiring Republican Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, but has trended Democratic in recent years.

Salazar is a 56-year-old Cuban-American. She had sought to capitalize on the district’s strong Hispanic presence and cast Shalala as past her prime.

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