A year ago, the idea that Democrats might seize control of the US Senate was laughable.
uncertain
Democrats → seize → Senate
Donald Trump was still riding high after winning both houses of Congress and the White House in 2024.
asserted
Trump → rid → 2024
His tech broligarchy was hurling money at Republican candidates, and the Democratic Party appeared rudderless.
asserted
Party → hurl → candidates
If the Democrats were to take the Senate they would not only need to hold all their own seats, they would have to wrestle four from Republicans, including two in states that Trump had won with double-digit leads.
asserted
Trump → take → leads
When it came, the win was not only emphatic; it was historic.
asserted
it → come → ?
The team that achieved it included a mega-church pastor, a Paralympian, a logger, a paediatrician, a Muslim professor of public health and, perhaps most famously, a Texan theologian and teacher prone to campaign homilies that meld piety with populism.
asserted
that → achieve → populism
James Talarico, Texas
James Talarico, a cherubic 37-year-old, was not born the last time Texas sent a Democrat senator to Washington.
asserted
Texas → bear → Washington
He studied education at Harvard and theological studies at a Presbyterian seminary before becoming a school teacher.
asserted
He → study → seminary
In that role, he became incensed at inequality, and launched himself into state politics.
asserted
he → become → politics
Over seven years, he campaigned against inequality and for cheaper pharmaceuticals, and notably against a proposed law requiring the display of the Ten Commandments in schools.
asserted
he → campaign → schools
Over eight years in state office, he built a reputation as a devout Christian campaigner against rising Christian nationalism, which he described in a 2023 sermon as, “the worship of power – social power, economic power, political power, in the name of Christ”.
asserted
he → build → Christ
After his victory, New York Times commentator Ezra Klein said one of the most exciting elements of the election was the return of a religious left to American political life.
asserted
one → say → life
In an earlier interview with Klein, Talarico said, “I really do believe that [politics] is the way that I can love my neighbour at scale”.
asserted
I → say → scale
“We just sent a message to every billionaire mega-donor, every trillionaire mega-donor, every corrupt defender of this broken political system in this state, in this country.
asserted
We → send → country
Power belongs to the people,” he told supporters in a dig at Elon Musk, who spent more than $US300 million ($430 million) backing his opponent, the Trump-backed Ken Paxton.
asserted
who → belong → opponent
The significance of the win goes beyond the Democrats finding a voice to connect with American Christians, though.
asserted
Democrats → go → Christians
His victory, alongside that of Gina Hinojosa, who became the first Latina governor in Texas, suggests Democrats might now be competitive in deep-red Texas in presidential races, to its huge advantage.
uncertain
Democrats → become → advantage
Dr Annie Andrews, South Carolina
Andrews, a professor of paediatric medicine, was drawn to political activism by the Parkland high school shooting in 2018, in which a young man shot 17 people dead.
asserted
man → draw → people
Reducing gun violence, she said, was directly related to her work as a paediatrician.
asserted
she → reduce → paediatrician
She lost a 2022 bid for a House seat before deciding to run again after Trump’s appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who has spread misinformation on vaccines, as health secretary.
asserted
who → lose → secretary
Victory was unlikely as she was running against Lindsey Graham, who’d climbed to the top of the Republican Party’s DC establishment in a career spanning 31 years.
asserted
who → run → years
After Graham died suddenly in July, Trump intervened to install Graham’s sister, Darline, to finish his term and run again.
asserted
Trump → die → term
The move fractured the South Carolinian Republican Party, with seasoned local politicians furious that an untested outsider had been imposed upon them.
asserted
outsider → fracture → them
As the warfare played out on the right, Andrews built her campaign machine and polished her performance.
asserted
Andrews → play → performance
On the public stage, by comparison, Darline Graham appeared at times both unenthused and uninformed.
asserted
Graham → appear → times
Late efforts to save the race with cash injections failed, and with her victory Andrews effectively torched the Graham legacy, curtailing Trump’s influence over the politics of the South.
asserted
Andrews → save → South
Adam Hamilton, Kansas
Hamilton was drawn to politics via his preaching.
asserted
Hamilton → draw → preaching
A fifth-generation Kansan, he graduated with a bachelor of arts in pastoral ministry from Oral Roberts University and a master of divinity from Southern Methodist University.
asserted
he → graduate → University
In 1990, he and his wife, LaVon, founded the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, with just four people.
asserted
he → found → people
Over three decades, it grew into the largest United Methodist congregation in the US, spanning multiple campuses, weekly services and up to 25,000 members.
asserted
it → grow → campuses
In 2013, Hamilton was invited to deliver the sermon at Barack Obama’s presidential inaugural national prayer service, where he said that for America to succeed, its leaders must present the nation with a unifying vision.
asserted
leaders → invite → vision
“Lead us to be a compassionate people, to be concerned for the marginalised,” Hamilton said, addressing Obama.
asserted
Hamilton → lead → Obama
“Help us rediscover a vision for America that is so compelling and unites us … lead us as a nation to knock holes in the darkness.”
asserted
that → help → darkness
After he came to believe the government was using its power to harm rather than help its people, Hamilton decided to run, rejecting the Republican Party he had supported all his life and opting not to run as an independent for fear of splitting the protest vote.
asserted
he → come → vote
He ran a pragmatic, centrist campaign on kitchen table issues – healthcare, cost of living, corruption – in a deeply Christian state that had not elected a Democratic senator in 94 years, the longest losing streak in American history.
asserted
that → run → history
“I’m US Senate nominee Josh Turek,” said Turek in a recent Facebook request for donations.
asserted
Turek → ’m → donations
“I was born with club feet, without a hip socket, scoliosis, massive back problems, and had my first surgery as a one-day-old.
asserted
I → bear → old
My wheelchair’s been my main ride for as long as I can remember.”
asserted
I → remember → ?
Turek went on to twice represent his country as a Paralympian, but remained appalled by the inequities of the US health system that had so marked his life.
asserted
that → go → life
He was inspired to run by the passage of Trump’s only significant legislative achievement of the term, the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
asserted
He → inspire → term
…and 40 more, not listed.
The Aporia
