WHAT THE RESULTS COULD MEAN FOR 2020 PRESIDENTIAL BALLOT

Democrat Kyrsten Sinema chose not to attack US President Donald Trump in her quest for a Senate seat in Arizona. Instead, she pointed out that she had supported him 62 per cent of the time when voting in the House of Representatives. This led to her being dubbed a purple candidate, rather than a blue one.

Yesterday it looked like her gamble might not be enough to end the Republican chokehold in her home state.

Ms Sinema, 42, tipped for the top in Democratic politics, was 1 per cent behind her Republican rival Martha McSally, with 75 per cent of votes in and possibly days of counting to go. The middle-ground strategy she adopted had taken her close but just as in other Republican-held Senate seats, it was no game changer.

The Democrats lost in Texas and Indiana, and with Florida too close to call it was proved that playing the anti-Trump card was not enough.

Republican candidates managed to hold on to Senate seats in states that the president won in 2016. Mr Trump’s appearances and endorsements on the campaign trail for those soon to be sworn in were widely credited with taking them over the victory line.

There lies last night’s warning for Democrats as they head into the 2020 presidential election cycle. In an age of identity politics Mr Trump has cornered the market. His personality appeals to core Republican voters.

And instead of selecting purple candidates who seemed to stand for little – Ms Sinema was accused of vagueness, assumed a low profile and went to great lengths to avoid questions, all a bit resonant of Hillary Clinton in 2016 – the Democrats need a candidate with personality who can cash in on, rather than just talk about, Mr Trump’s least admiral traits and deeds.

The early names are Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Andrew Cuomo, Deval Patrick, even maybe Joe Biden or Michael Bloomberg, but are any of them going to take on Mr Trump?

In a heavily Republican area on Sunday a former Democrat member brought up Bill Clinton as the type of candidate needed by his old party.

“He had that southern charm and gift of the gab,” the man said. “The Democrats need someone like that to take on Trump.”

Although they failed to land their Senate targets there were some positives for the Democrats and warnings for Republicans.

In Ohio, a rust belt state that Mr Trump won in 2016, Democrat Sherrod Brown, a champion of workers’ rights and financial regulation on Capitol Hill, was re-elected.

Mr Trump could not have become president if he had not won Ohio. His stump speech in Cleveland on Monday didn’t move the needle for Republicans this time around.

But it is in Pennsylvania that Democrats might take most heart and see a harbinger of what their 2020 campaign strategy should look like. In taking back the House of Representatives, people turned out in droves in traditionally blue-collar cities. including Philadelphia. to vote Democratic.

White, educated urban voters – once the preserve of the Republicans – now sway towards Democrats while less educated citizens pick Mr Trump, as do those living in rural areas.

That blue-red split got only bigger last night. It was the rural surge that doomed the Democrats’ effort to take back the Senate while an urban voter uptick took them so close in Texas.

Driven by unusually strong voter turnout, the midterms produced blue and red waves. It just depended on which map you were looking at.