Even Century-Old Strongholds Lost... Helpless Against High Inflation

[Anchor]

In this midterm election, even Texas, known as the heart of conservatism, and Kansas, a 100-year Republican stronghold, fell to the Democrats. Candidates heavily backed by President Trump suffered consecutive defeats.

Reporter Kim Hye-young has the story.

[Reporter]

For the first time in 38 years, a Democratic senator has been born in the Republican stronghold of Texas.

Thirty-seven-year-old candidate James Talarico defeated the Republican candidate who had received full support from President Trump.

Although Republicans poured about 300 million dollars and even Elon Musk provided a massive amount of support, they could not overturn the outcome.

[James Talarico / U.S. Senator-elect for Texas: We just took Texas back. We proved that all the money in the world is useless in front of the people of Texas.]

In Ohio, a Democratic candidate defeated a Republican incumbent senator, and in Kansas, a Democratic senator was born for the first time in a whopping 94 years.

[Adam Hamilton / U.S. Senator-elect for Kansas: I think the people of Kansas, whether they are Republicans, independents, or Democrats, are saying that what is happening in Washington right now is wrong.]

With consecutive upsets in traditional Republican-leaning regions, the Democrats swept as many as 6 out of the 7 battleground areas designated as key contest points.

Analysis shows that the prolonged Iran war and high inflation had a decisive impact on the consecutive crushing defeats for the Republicans.

As gasoline and daily necessity prices soared and the burden of living expenses exploded, even supporters who voted for Trump in the presidential election two years ago turned their backs in large numbers.

[U.S. Voter in Georgia: I am worried about my children's future, the economic situation, and the job market.]

[U.S. Voter in Maine: I don't like the way things are going in our country right now. Both the economy and the war issues.]

Complaints also erupted that Trump was undermining the traditional values of American democracy through excessive immigration crackdowns and press suppression that continued during his second term.

[Mason Richey / Professor, Graduate School of International Studies, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies: Even people who voted for President Trump are fed up with the flawed state affairs management. Quite a few Republican candidates took positions that were very unpopular with the public.]

President Trump, tripped up by war and inflation, is seeing his political standing shake as even the Republican strongholds crumble.

(Video Editing: Kim Ho-jin, Design: Seo Hyun-jung, Kang Yoon-jung, Park Chun-woong)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.