WASHINGTON, Nov. 4 -- President Donald Trump and the Republican Party suffered a stunning loss on Tuesday as the Democrats won a US Senate seat and the governorship of Texas, breaking a Republican stranglehold on power in the state that has lasted more than three decades.

Texas had not elected a Democrat to statewide office since 1994, or to the US Senate since 1988. However, 37-year-old former schoolteacher James Talarico defeated his scandal-ridden Republican opponent Ken Paxton to win election to the Senate, while Gina Hinojosa pulled off a major upset to unseat three-term Governor Greg Abbott.

The defeat represents a decisive rejection of President Trump and the Republican Party by voters in one of America's most reliably conservati...