Rebellion of voters in suburbs is red flag for the Republicans

DONALD TRUMP has been handed a warning in the lead-up to his 2020 reelection bid after a string of statewide elections suggested Republican voters in the suburbs are abandoning the party.

In Kentucky, a state Mr Trump won by almost 30 percentage points in the 2016 election, the Democratic candidate for governor appeared to have won a narrow victory over the Republican incumbent.

In Virginia, the Democrats flipped a string of Republican seats and now control both the state legislature and the governorship for the first time in 26 years.

There were some positive results for the president, such as in Mississippi, who is aware that drawing firm national conclusions from local races, each with their own factors and personalities, is problematic.

However, Republican strategists said the night’s results amounted to a red light for the Trump presidency, with the departure of voters, especially women in the suburbs who had been with him three years ago, a particular concern.

Most damaging politically for Mr Trump was the failure of Matt Bevin, the Republican governor in Kentucky, to win more votes than his Democratic rival. Mr Trump had appeared at a rally in Lexington, Kentucky, just 12 hours before polls opened in an attempt to get Mr Bevin and other candidates over the line.

During his speech, Mr Trump had implored supporters to make sure Mr Bevin won, warning that if he did not secure reelection it would backlash on the president.

“If you lose, they will say Trump suffered the greatest defeat in the history of the world,” Mr Trump had said. “You

‘We continue to lose needed support in suburban districts. That trend, if not reversed, is a death spiral’

can’t let that happen to me, and you can’t let that happen to your incredible state.”

With all the votes counted, Mr Bevin was on 48.8 per cent of the vote compared to his Democratic rival Andy Beshear, who was on 49.2 per cent. The margin was about 5,000 votes.

Rick Tyler, a Republican strategist, told The Washington Post: “[We] continue to lose needed support in suburban districts, especially among women and college-educated voters. That trend, if not reversed, is a death spiral.”