By Lisa Lerer

National Political Correspondent

Good morning. Concerns over abortion rights helped Democrats win in crucial states.

A political winner

By the time the midterm election campaign reached its final days, some Democrats had spent weeks fretting that their nominees had consumed far too much time talking about abortion rights at the expense of economic issues — and, potentially, their seats.

Well, about that.

Support for abortion rights now appears to be one of the big reasons Democrats defied history and staved off deep midterm losses. In a new article, my colleague Elizabeth Dias and I explain how Democrats changed the politics of an issue that's long been most galvanizing for their opponents.

Democratic campaigns invested more heavily in abortion rights than any other topic, riding a wave of anger after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June. In total, Democrats and their allies spent nearly half a billion dollars on ads mentioning abortion — more than twice what they spent on crime, and eight times as much as Republicans spent on abortion, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking firm.

The impact

In Virginia, Minnesota, New Mexico and elsewhere, abortion rights emerged as a driving force in the midterm elections, helping Democrats win ballot measures, governor's races and House seats.

Voters in three states — California, Vermont and highly contested Michigan — protected abortion rights in their state constitutions. In Kentucky, the Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell's home state, voters rejected an anti-abortion amendment.

In several states where the future of abortion rights rested on the outcomes of state legislative and governor's races, voters said the issue was pivotal, according to exit polls conducted by TV networks and Edison Research. In Pennsylvania, abortion overtook the economy as the top issue on voters' minds. Democrats there won a Senate race, critical to their hopes of maintaining a Senate majority, as well as the governor's mansion, and they seemed poised to flip control of the State House of Representatives.

In Michigan, where nearly half of voters said abortion was their top issue, Democrats won both chambers of the Legislature and re-elected Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, giving the party a trifecta of power for the first time in 40 years.

The bottom line

Republicans had sought an end to Roe for nearly 50 years, and the issue had long motivated their core supporters more than it had their opponents'. But in this election, the court victory turned out to be a political loser. (And, as The Upshot recently reported, it hasn't made much of a dent in the number of abortions nationwide.)

The midterm results suggest that Democrats have upended the status quo on the issue — and that abortion rights could remain a source of motivation in the next election, when the possibility of a nationwide ban is on the ballot.

For more

• These maps show where the midterms mattered most for abortion access.
• "When it comes to reproductive choice, Republicans are simply out of touch with the values of a significant part of the electorate," Michelle Goldberg argues in Times Opinion.

The latest results

• Control of the House remains unclear. Republicans are nearing a narrow House majority.
• Senate control is also uncertain, with races in Nevada and Arizona uncalled. The Georgia Senate race will go to a December runoff between Raphael Warnock, a Democrat, and Herschel Walker, a former football star.
• It could take days to count Nevada's tens of thousands of remaining ballots. In Arizona, Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat, is leading.
• In Wisconsin, Senator Ron Johnson, a Republican who frequently spreads misinformation, beat Mandela Barnes, the Democratic lieutenant governor, to win re-election.
• Voters in Michigan, Wisconsin and other states rejected Republican candidates who cast doubt on the 2020 election results. But such candidates won in Ohio and North Carolina.
• Alaska's Senate seat will go to a Republican, either the incumbent, Senator Lisa Murkowski, or Kelly Tshibaka, who was endorsed by Donald Trump.
• Representative Lauren Boebert, a far-right Colorado Republican, is locked in an unexpectedly close race.
• If Democrats lose the House, they may have New York to blame. Republicans flipped four congressional seats in the state.
• Kansas voters re-elected Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat. Kris Kobach, a hard-right Republican, won the state attorney general's race.
• Here are all of the updated election results.

More on the midterms

• President Biden celebrated his party's better-than-expected results.
• Republicans across the party publicly criticized Trump after many of his handpicked candidates lost.
• The new class of lawmakers in the House will include a veteran who attended the "Stop the Steal" rally, diverse young progressives and Republican members of color.
• Follow The Times's live updates.

THE LATEST NEWS

• Russia said it would withdraw troops from Kherson, a strategic southern city.
• U.S. and Ukrainian officials expressed skepticism. "The enemy does not bring us gifts," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

• World leaders say the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund need to be overhauled to help poorer countries fight climate change.
• Scientists are using satellites to more specifically track polluters.
• Jordan, already one of the driest countries, is running out of water.

• Hurricane Nicole made landfall in Florida this morning, before weakening to a tropical storm.
• The cryptocurrency exchange Binance pulled out of a deal to save its rival, FTX, which collapsed earlier. Our columnist asks: Is this crypto's "Lehman moment"?
• Crises are pushing more migrants across the Darién Gap, the dangerous jungle connecting South and Central America.
• The art collection of Paul Allen, a Microsoft co-founder, sold for more than $1.5 billion at Christie's New York, a record.
• A listeria outbreak tied to deli meat and cheese has killed one person and sickened at least 16 others in several states, The Washington Post reports.

Recapturing Kherson suggests Ukraine can take back Crimea from Russia, too, Orysia Lutsevych argues.

If the G.O.P. were a normal party, the midterm results would effectively make Ron DeSantis its 2024 front-runner. But nothing about the G.O.P. under Trump is normal, Ross Douthat says.

Demographics aren't political destiny, Wesley Hunt, a newly elected Black Republican, argues on the "First Person" podcast.

MORNING READS

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Lives Lived: The sculptor Lee Bontecou was one of the first women shown at the influential Leo Castelli Gallery, but she bristled at any suggestion that her work had feminist motivations. "Art is art," she said. She died at 91.

SPORTS NEWS FROM THE ATHLETIC

Nets coach: A week after firing Steve Nash, Brooklyn took the interim tag off Jacque Vaughn's title to make him head coach.

World Cup: Gregg Berhalter, the U.S. men's national team coach, announced his roster with a few surprises, most notably the omission of goalkeeper Zack Steffen. The Americans open the World Cup against Wales on Nov. 21.

ARTS AND IDEAS

Bright, beautiful pages

A boy named Bo Willie wakes up one morning to find his "yellow dog" has fled, and embarks on a journey to find him. A grandpa tells the story of "Little Red Riding Hood" all wrong, giving the heroine an encounter with a giraffe. A rooster, working at a hotel, has trouble waking the international animal clients who don't understand "cock-a-doodle-doo."

Those stories are among this year's 10 best illustrated children's books, a designation that The Times has awarded since 1952, recently in collaboration with the New York Public Library. You can see the full list.

Behind the books: Meet the artists who illustrated them.

Subscribe to New York Times Cooking for 50% off your first year. Discover a variety of recipes for Thanksgiving — and every day.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

This smoky chicken birria can be tacos or a stew.

"The Big Brunch" on HBO Max tries to redeem chefs' most hated meal.

A 120-year-old piece by Gustav Mahler is the hot song of the fall.

The hosts called Trump the biggest loser in the midterms.

The pangram from yesterday's Spelling Bee was placebo. Here is today's puzzle.

Here's today's Mini Crossword, and a clue: Tilts diagonally (five letters).

And here's today's Wordle. After, use our bot to get better.

Thanks for spending part of your morning with The Times. See you tomorrow.

P.S. The Times's James Wagner will become an international sports correspondent based in Mexico City, and Alan Blinder will cover golf.

Here's today's front page.

"The Daily" is about the midterms.

Matthew Cullen, Lauren Hard, Lauren Jackson, Claire Moses, Ian Prasad Philbrick, Tom Wright-Piersanti and Ashley Wu contributed to The Morning. You can reach the team at themorning@nytimes.com.

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