This archive report was first published on 26 June 2020.
US President Donald Trump's one-year anniversary of his election win was marked by a resounding defeat for his party in several high-profile state and mayoral elections, with Democrats winning gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia.
On November 8, 2016, Hillary Clinton's loss to Trump marked the beginning of his presidency, but Democrats bounced back on Tuesday night with their biggest election victories of the Trump era.
They won mayoral races in New York and Boston, as expected, but also in cities like Manchester, New Hampshire; Fayetteville and Charlotte in battleground North Carolina; and Florida's St Petersburg.
Some of the results were expected, as in Virginia, which neighbours the capital Washington and has trended blue in recent years.
However, the 8.5 percentage point victory margin for governor-elect Ralph Northam over his Trump-endorsed rival, Ed Gillespie, stunned analysts who did not expect so thorough a repudiation of Trump's combative politics.
"We're taking our country back from Donald Trump one election at a time," Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez said, adding that voters were "punishing Republicans for dividing our country."
"We're taking our country back from Donald Trump one election at a time," Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez said, adding that voters were "punishing Republicans for dividing our country." — Tom Perez, Democratic National Committee chairman
The results could emerge as a test of the unpopular president's influence ahead of the 2018 mid-term elections and the 2020 presidential contest.
Trump himself appeared unfazed by the results, tweeting his thanks to Americans who elected him one year ago, including the "deplorables" criticised by Clinton during their toxic campaign.
"Congratulations to all of the 'DEPLORABLES' and the millions of people who gave us a MASSIVE (304-227) Electoral College landslide victory!" Trump posted on Twitter from China, during his nearly two-week trip to Asia.
