The Democratic Wins No Election Forecaster Expected

A pediatrician, a former professor, and a minister with a shoestring campaign are among the Democrats headed to Congress after defeating Republican candidates few expected to lose.A TIME analysis of 10 pre-election forecasts found more than a dozen House races that Democrats won that every forecaster rated either as tilting, leaning, likely, or even safe Republican or as a toss-up. Some Democratic candidates had experience as mayors or state lawmakers, but many are political newcomers. Several won despite significantly smaller campaign spending.Many of the races mark the first time a Democrat has been elected in years. In South Carolina, Annie Andrews will become the state’s first Democratic senator in more than two decades.Several more potential upsets remain in races that have yet to be called by the Associated Press as of early Tuesday, one week after Election Day. In Mississippi, which all 10 forecasters rated Republican, Democratic District Attorney Scott Colom leads Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith. If he wins, he would be the state’s first Democratic Senate winner since 1982 and its first Black senator since the Reconstruction era.Colom posted on social media Monday that the...