By Danielle Gaines

Good evening. As election results continue to trickle in across the country, Tuesday’s results are becoming clearer at the state level. Democrats have gained control of a majority of governor’s offices and state legislative chambers, and flipped control of key offices — secretary of state and attorney general — in a handful of states. Voters in multiple states defended the right to citizen ballot initiatives, while producing mixed results on dozens of other ballot questions.

Tuesday’s races also included a number of historic wins, which we recap below.

Democrats on Tuesday seized more power over state governments than the party has had in years after the party swept races up and down the ballot in Tuesday’s midterm elections, Stateline reports. 

Republicans have held a majority of state legislatures and governorships since 2010. But tracking from the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee on Wednesday showed the party had flipped 12 chambers so far, putting Democrats in control of more than half the nation’s state legislative chambers.

Unofficial results show Democrats will control the Arizona legislature for the first time in 60 years. Building off a historic sweep of statewide races, Democrats are poised to take control of the Texas House for the first time in over 20 years. In North Carolina, Democrats flipped several House seats held by influential, veteran Republicans to give the party control of the lower chamber for the first time since 2010. 

Many legislative races had yet to be called Wednesday, but Democrats will secure new trifectas – control of both chambers and the governor’s office – in Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Democrats also broke Republican trifectas in Georgia, Iowa, Ohio and Texas.

Additionally, Democratic wins crushed GOP supermajorities in at least one chamber in several states, including Florida, Indiana, Kansas, Missouri, Ohio and South Carolina. 

Related: (Stateline) Democrats win majority of governorships for the first time in 16 years

And in an election marked by concerns about misinformation and election integrity, Democrats flipped control of the secretary of state’s offices in three states, wresting election oversight from Republicans. 

In Indiana, Beau Bayh prevailed in the secretary of state’s race, the first statewide win for a Democratic candidate there since 2012. The party’s other wins were notched in Georgia and Ohio. Democratic governors will have the power to appoint the position in Pennsylvania and Texas. As of Wednesday, two seats currently held by Republicans in Kansas and Vermont, had not yet been called. 

Among attorneys general, who have served as a check on the Trump presidency through persistent legal challenges, Democrats flipped three seats, in Georgia, Iowa and Texas. 

Races remained too close to call in Kansas and Ohio, though the Democratic challenger in the Buckeye State has claimed victory. 

Voters decided several democracy-related ballot measures on Tuesday. 

In North Dakota and South Dakota, voters rejected a ballot question that would have raised the threshold for voter approval of state constitutional amendments from a simple majority to 60%. Utahns rejected a measure that would have made it harder for ballot initiatives that come with tax increases to pass into law. Montanans chose with 65% of the vote to protect the initiative process in the constitution.

Missouri voters rejected a Republican-drawn congressional map designed to give the GOP an advantage in the U.S. House. In Maryland, voters approved a ballot measure that could allow Democratic lawmakers to draw congressional boundaries to favor the party. 

Related coverage: 

• Ballot Measure 2, repeal of Alaska’s election system, trails with many votes uncounted
• (Michigan) ‘Money Out of Politics’ ballot measure passes, constitutional convention fails

Alabama: Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones conceded Wednesday to Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville in a gubernatorial race that became the closest contest for that office since 2002. 

Kansas: With Democrat Cindy Holscher holding a roughly 5,500-vote lead in the governor’s race, Republican Ty Masterson said Wednesday the results warrant “another look.”

New Hampshire: The state Executive Council, a unique panel that vets state contracts and gubernatorial nominees, flipped from a Republican majority to 5-0 Democratic control. The council, as well as a likely Democratic legislative majority, could serve as a check on Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte, who won a second term Tuesday. 

Texas: Democrats broke the Republican hold on the state’s highest courts, winning all four seats up for election on the nine-member Texas Supreme Court and other seats on appellate panels. 

Ohio: Democrats won two state Supreme Court elections, flipping one seat.

Colom was within striking distance Wednesday of pulling off an historic upset in Mississippi’s U.S. Senate race between him and Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, but the race remained too close to call.

And results could take some time. Ballots remained uncounted in Hinds County, the most populous area of the state and a Democratic stronghold and in counties along the coast where Hyde-Smith has maintained an edge. Thousands of affidavit and mail-in ballots also remain to be counted.

By Wednesday morning, Democrats had secured 54 seats in the U.S. Senate, according to unofficial results. 

The only other as-yet uncalled U.S. Senate race is Alaska’s, where former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola is up against incumbent GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan in Alaska. That race has included legal action and accusations of meddling and could head to a ranked-choice runoff if neither leading candidate secures a majority on the initial ballot. 

Read more from Mississippi Today and Alaska Beacon.

And check out our photo essay with scenes from Election Day from coast to coast. 

Ahead of the midterms, Democrats wargamed dozens of scenarios looking at how President Donald Trump might try to undermine the election, everything from seizing voting machines to falsely declaring a foreign attack.

But when the blue tsunami arrived Tuesday night, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports, Trump seemed to let it wash right over him.

In a series of late-night interviews, the president said he would accept the results. He acknowledged that Democrats had performed well as they retook the House and Senate. And while he refused responsibility for Republicans’ newfound misfortune, he also spoke of cutting deals with Democrats.

“Yes, I’ll accept them,” Trump said on Fox News when asked about the results. He added a short time later, “Congratulations to the Democrats, they did a good job.”

The comments marked a stunning departure for a mercurial president with a long history of alleging elections were stolen in response to unfavorable results.

On Capitol Hill, the change of leadership started within hours of the results becoming clear. 

U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries got one step closer to becoming the next speaker after Democrats delivered a sweeping victory in the midterm elections, the D.C. Bureau reports. 

If elected by a majority of House members, Jeffries would make history as the first Black person to hold the gavel. The 56-year-old Brooklynite would lead Democrats’ charge against President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans’ policies, while pursuing an affordability and accountability-focused agenda.  

Jeffries — who’s represented the Empire State’s 8th Congressional District since 2013 — would have to navigate a challenging terrain that includes internal divisions in his caucus and a president all but certain to veto many of the party’s measures. 

Jeffries would be the first Democratic speaker since Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California.  

Current Republican Speaker Mike Johnson, meanwhile, announced he would not seek the top leadership spot for his party next term, House majority leader. The D.C. Bureau looks at who might step forward to take the job in a new era of Democratic dominance.

Related coverage:

• Vance and Trump blame midterm GOP elections loss on their war in Iran
• Democrats won Congress. Now they have to figure out how to deal with Trump.
• Following midterm landslide, Democrats pressed by supporters to deliver on promises 
• (Minnesota) Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan calls for new leadership of Senate Democrats

While Democrats were sweeping elections in most places, a flood of ballot measures across the country met a more mixed fate.

Nationwide results for abortion ballot initiatives on Tuesday night largely favored protecting access to abortion and other reproductive care, with the exception of Idaho, where a measure that would have restored access to abortion was soundly defeated, Stateline reports.

Most states with tax policy on the ballot saw voters reject large-scale change, though some passed smaller changes or reined in officials’ ability to make changes.

Voters in five states approved new citizenship voting requirements on Tuesday while Arizona voters rejected theirs.

Millions of voters in 11 states approved tougher criminal penalties and more bail restrictions in Tuesday’s midterm elections, while rejecting efforts to roll back marijuana legalization and expand cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

And the backlash against data centers saw 33 ballot measures to restrict them passed by voters or were leading in ongoing vote counts early Wednesday morning, according to the tracking website Data Centers on the Ballot. Roughly a dozen similar measures were on the ballot in communities where vote totals had not yet been announced.