Encouraging signs

Democrats said the midterm campaign offered plenty of encouraging signs for the 2020 race as grassroots enthusiasm to resist Trump led to a new majority in the House of Representatives, a flood of firsttime candidates up and down state ballots and an explosion of leftleaning advocacy groups and grassroots protests.

Even the losing campaigns of unabashed liberals Andrew Gillum, who lost his bid to be the first AfricanAmerican governor of the swing state of Florida, and Beto O’Rourke, who became a grassroots sensation but fell short in his US Senate bid in conservative Texas, offered lessons on how to run strong races on Trumpfriendly turf, Democrats said.

‘‘The model for 2020 is Andrew Gillum and Beto O’Rourke. The nominee is going to have to produce largescale grassroots support and go everywhere and reach out to everybody,’’ said Neera Tanden, president of the liberal Centre for American Progress.

The midterm campaign showed the power of Trump and the #MeToo movement to motivate women, sparking an unprecedented number of female candidates and encouragement for women considering a 2020 run, such as Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Kirsten Gillibrand and Amy Klobuchar.

‘‘We have a whole universe of suburban women and voters under 40 who are so ticked off at Trump they are coming out to vote in droves and energising the base organically,’’ said John Anzalone, a Democratic pollster for both Clinton and former President Barack Obama.

The Democratic contenders will have to navigate the struggle between the party’s establishment and progressive wings that flared during the 2016 primary between Clinton and Bernie Sanders. Several candidates are expected to test how far to the left they can run and still win a national election.