Republicans on Tuesday lost control of both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House, were defeated in gubernatorial races in five states, and suffered losses in state legislatures across the country, but public referendums on immigration-related issues passed easily in eight of the same states where the party lost.
In Kansas, U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) lost reelection to controversial pastor Adam Hamilton, and Kansas State Senate President Ty Masterson (R-Wichita) is projected at press time to narrowly lose the gubernatorial race to State Senator Cindy Holscher (D-Overland Park).
Despite the Republican losses in the Sunflower State, nearly two-thirds of the electorate voted for a ballot measure requiring U.S. citizenship to vote in any Kansas election.
A similar ballot initiative is on track to be approved by nearly 70 percent of voters in Alaska, where U.S. Senator Dan S. Sullivan (R-AK) is currently projected to narrowly lose to former U.S. Representative Mary Peltola, while the number of votes received by accused spoiler, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., exceeds the gap between Dan S. Sullivan and Peltola.
While Arkansas saw no prominent statewide losses, Democrats in the State House grew to 28 total seats, breaking the Republican supermajority in the legislature of Tennessee’s neighboring state. At the same time, Arkansas voters passed a referendum restricting voting to U.S. citizens, with support from more than 61 percent of voters.
Democrats also made gains in West Virginia, where two Democrats defeated Republican incumbents in the State Senate, and the number of Democrats in the West Virginia House of Delegates increased from 9 to 21.
Despite the Democratic gains in West Virginia, nearly 80 percent of voters cast ballots in favor of requiring American citizenship to vote in the state’s elections.
While citizenship requirements to vote were popular in Kansas, Alaska, Arkansas, and West Virginia, voter ID measures were similarly popular in Nevada, North Carolina, and Ohio.
In Ohio, voters rejected former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, U.S. Representative Max Miller (R-OH-07), and U.S. Senator John Husted (R-OH), who was appointed to fill the term Vice President JD Vance vacated in 2025.
While casting the same ballots that spelled the first gubernatorial loss in Ohio for Republicans since 2012, nearly two-thirds of Ohio voters also approved a ballot measure to amend the state Constitution to require photo ID when voting.
Nevada reported similar results, with Governor Joe Lombardo (R) losing to his Democratic Party opponent, Aaron Ford, even as an amendment requiring identification for voting on Election Day or through a mail-in ballot passed with more than 62 percent of the electorate.
A constitutional amendment requiring photo ID to vote also received support from 60 percent of voters in North Carolina, where former Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairman Michael Whatley lost the Senate race to former Governor Roy Cooper in a 20-point landslide defeat.
Arizona’s voters offered more mixed results on immigration-related ballot measures.
In the Grand Canyon State, a referendum designating drug cartels as terrorist organizations passed with the support of 57 percent of voters, while a second that would have established voter ID and citizenship requirements while voting was defeated, with only 47 percent voting in favor. Republicans lost the gubernatorial race in Arizona.
Republicans saw only marginal losses in South Dakota, with just one Republican losing a seat in the State House, but voters there also approved a referendum to restrict voting to American citizens.
In Colorado, where voters have elected Democrats consistently since 2008, referendums about local cooperation with federal immigration authorities and mail-ballot identification similarly both failed.
The support for referendums related to immigration in states where Republicans lost seems to contradict the opinion of Republican strategist Karl Rove, who told Fox News that the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement was responsible for Democratic victories in Texas.
Rove’s interpretation was also contradicted by exit polling, which the nonprofit NumbersUSA said showed voters trusted Republicans on immigration over Democrats by a 4-point margin, despite immigration no longer being a “decisive” issue. It also found that 89 percent of voters who prioritize immigration voted Republican.
Tennessee had no immigration referendum on the ballot, but voters did approve a constitutional amendment prohibiting the state from levying property taxes, despite voting for Democrats in six Republican-held seats in the State House, and U.S. Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN-04) narrowly losing to Victoria Broderick.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Voter” by Lorie Shaull. CC BY 4.0.
