US midterm elections: What did we learn so far?
Former President Donald Trump had thrown his political weight, and the weight of his MAGA supporters, behind a number of candidates, many of them on the far-right when it comes to conspiracy theories about stolen elections, rigged votes, and denying that Joe Biden legally won the 2020 US presidential ballot.
The former president endorsed more than 300 candidates in the midterm cycle and was hoping to use Republican victories as a springboard for a 2024 presidential campaign.
Those MAGA candidates had been touting a "red wave" of support for the Trump wing of the Republican Party but it seems to have amounted to more of a "red ripple" instead, with decidedly mixed results.
Hardline Colorado conservative Lauren Boebert was one of the best-known of Trump's proteges nationally: she had millions of dollars of support going into the midterm elections, and a nine-point lead in the polls for a district that had been redrawn to favour right-leaning voters.
But so far her race is too close to call.
How controversial is she? Boebert suggested two female Muslim politicians were terrorists and part of a "jihad squad;" she spoke out against gun control; she likened the Russian invasion of Ukraine to Canada, saying "we also have neighbours to the north who need freedom and you need to be liberated;" and said that it should be illegal for gay people to come out before age 21, among other positions.
Some other high-profile Trump-backed candidates like TV Doctor Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania also failed to get elected; and firebrand former TV news reporter Kari Lake -- who was touted by Britain's Nigel Farage as a possible 2024 vice presidential running mate for Trump -- is trailing in the gubernatorial race against her Democratic opponent,
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