Early election shock for GOP

President Donald Trump and his Republican supporters insisted yesterday that no course correction is needed despite stinging Republican defeats in battleground suburbs and a Democrat on the verge of victory in the governor’s race in deep-red Kentucky.

But the blue wave that swept through the suburbs in 2018 and gave Democrats control of the US House barrelled through communities outside Philadelphia, Washington and Cincinnati on Wednesday, sending a clear signal that Trump faces potential trouble in areas that have generally sided with Republicans for decades. Voters — many of them Democrats — participated at levels rarely seen in years when control of Congress or the White House isn’t at stake.

In Kentucky, turnout was up by nearly 50 per cent from 2015, when the state last held a governor’s race. Turnout was higher for both parties, but the increases were much more dramatic for Democratic challenger Andy Beshear. Some of the biggest increases were in the counties where Beshear fared best, particularly in Jefferson County, home to Louisville, and Fayette County, which encompasses Lexington. Meanwhile, the counties where incumbent Republican Gov. Matt Bevin did best underperformed compared with Democratic counties.

More than twice as many people in Virginia voted in state legislative races than in the last similar election four years ago.

With nearly a year until the presidential election, there is a risk of drawing firm conclusions about the meaning of Wednesday’s results. But coming amid an intensifying impeachment inquiry, they raise questions about Trump’s ability to help other Republicans across the finish line. At a minimum, some GOP strategists say the party needs to confront its eroding support in the suburbs.

‘‘There are some troubling signs amongst some of the areas that are going to matter most in 2020: suburban areas in major metro areas in battleground states,’’ said Kevin Madden, a Republican strategist who was a senior adviser on Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. ‘‘For instance, in the Philadelphia suburbs, there were big GOP losses in a state where Trump won by a slim margin. The path to victory is in these suburbs, but there are a lot of warning signs that the environment is going to be tougher in 2020 than in 2016.’’

Trump tried to avoid this dynamic, holding an election-eve rally with Bevin and acknowledging the governor’s fate would be intrinsically linked to his own.

‘‘If you lose, they’re going to say, ‘Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world. This was the greatest.’ You can’t let that happen to me!’’ Trump implored the crowd in Lexington on Tuesday night.

Republicans claimed victory with the Mississippi governor’s race, but the Democrats otherwise dominated the day. Not only did Democrats excel around Philadelphia, they won majorities in both Virginia’s House and Senate, giving the party full control of the state’s government and solidifying what had once been a swing state as a stronghold for the party. –AP