US Democrat victories send message of hope: the rise of hard-right populism is not unstoppable
Wins by the Democrats in last week's American elections were a sign of hope for everyone alarmed by the rise of hard right populism on both sides of the Atlantic and further afield.
Zohran Mamdani's victory in the contest to be Mayor of New York and the election of two Democrat women, Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger, as governors of New Jersey and Virginia were a huge boost for a party in the doldrums following last year's presidential election.
But the results were also a shot in the arm for people in the UK worried about the UK Labour government's poor poll ratings and the apparent advance of Nigel Farage's Reform UK.
The US "off-year" elections - so called because they fall between the presidential and mid-term elections - were a setback for the Republicans and Donald Trump.
Trump claimed the main reason the Republicans did so badly was because his name wasn't on the ballot paper. In reality Trump so dominates politics in the US now that almost anything that happens is seen as a reflection on him, one way or another.
So in many ways last week's vote was a referendum on the record so far of the 47th president of the United States.
The fact that many who voted for Trump just 12 months ago have already had enough is a small sign that sense could be returning to US politics.
So what do these Democrat victories mean? Commentators say the election outcome reflects concern about the US economy. Democrats focused squarely on "affordability", inflation and the cost of living.
Mamdani, in particular, had a message of optimism and a manifesto of bold policies which would make a real difference in people’s lives - rent freezes, free buses and universal childcare.
He and the two new governors are from different wings of the Democratic party. Mamdani - who is New York's first Muslim mayor - describes himself as a "democratic socialist". Sherill and Spanberger are much more centrist, though they also fought on economic issues.
But the three were standing in different states, each appealed to their own electorate, and all three won the endorsement of the voters.
Their victories - together with the defeat of Reform in last month's Caerphilly by-election - are evidence that the rise of the hard right is not unstoppable.