‘No Republican blowout’: our panel reacts to the initial US midterm results

A an election night campaign event for Mehmet Oz, the Republican candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania. Oz lost to the Democrat John Fetterman. Photograph: Matt Rourke/AP

Moira Donegan: ‘It wasn’t meant to be this close’

It was not supposed to be this close. Midterms are always hard for the party in power. In the past, when Democrats have faced a midterm election when they controlled both the White House and Congress, the Republicans had a blowout.