Voters have approved measures on the minimum wage, marijuana, sentencing reform, gun control and fracking, and also decided on abortion policy

By the time the confetti settled on Tuesday night, America was unquestionably, albeit not unexpectedly, a redder nation. A succession of GOP victories in the US midterm elections saw Republicans take the US Senate from Democrats. They fortified their stronghold in the US House of Representatives, where they are on the verge of securing their largest majority since the 1940s. They also won big in state capitals across the country.

It was a bleak night for Democrats. But the results of more than 140 statewide ballot measures revealed some bright spots for those to the left of centre. From approving recreational marijuana to rejecting personhood initiatives, voters tended to embrace liberal causes, even in states that elected conservative leaders. Here’s a look at new laws tugging the nation back, if only slightly, to the left.

Minimum wage hikes

Voters in four red states, Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska and South Dakota, resoundingly approved ballot measures to raise the minimum wage above current levels. The hikes are modest compared with the $15 protesters and activists are demanding. The measures will raise the states’ minimum wage by between $1.25 and $2.25 over the next few years. A non-binding measure in Illinois, a blue state, also passed.

Significantly, voters living in one of the country’s most expensive cities, San Francisco, also approved a wage hike, raising the minimum there to $15 an hour.

Recreational marijuana use

Amid much fanfare, Oregon and Alaska voted to legalize recreational marijuana, joining a small contingent of US states where smoking a joint isn’t against local law. (The drug remains illegal under federal law.) Supporters hailed the twin victories as a bellwether of a national policy change on the issue. The laws permit residents over 21 to grow their own marijuana and establish a legal retail trade.

Washington DC residents approved an initiative which will allow them to legally possess and grow small amounts of cannabis for personal use. Unlike those in Oregon and Alaska and the two states that already allow recreational marijuana, Colorado and Washington, the District’s measure does not set up a scheme for commercial sales of the drug. And the proposal’s fate is not entirely sealed, because the US Congress, which has significant authority over the city, can overrule its laws.

In Florida, a majority of voters backed a measure legalizing medical marijuana, but that wasn’t enough to pass it – the “yes vote” came just short of the 60% threshold needed for approval. And more than 8,000 miles away, the Pacific island of Guam became the first US territory to legalise medical marijuana.

Sentencing reform

Californians voted to roll back sentencing laws, loosening punishments for certain crimes in an effort to curb the state’s prison population.

A variety of crimes, including theft, shoplifting and drug possession for personal use, would be reduced from felonies to misdemeanors. The savings from keeping people out of prison will fund anti-truancy, mental health and drug treatment programs.

Gun control

Washington voters approved a universal background check measure being hailed as the nation’s toughest. The new law goes beyond what is required under federal law, extending background checks to private firearm sales and transfers in Washington state.

A competing measure that would have prohibited background checks beyond what is mandated by federal law failed.

Fracking

Residents of a Texas town where America’s oil and natural gas boom began voted to ban fracking inside its city limits, a first for the state.

Abortion restrictions

Voters in North Dakota and Colorado fought off two ballot initiatives that would have expanded the rights of unborn children. Opponents of the so-called “personhood” initiatives say such laws could consequently restrict women’s access to abortions, ban certain types of birth control and possibly bar in-vitro fertilization.

In Tennessee, however, voters elected to amend the state constitution so that women’s right to an abortion is no longer “secured” or “protected”. The amendment hands state lawmakers new powers to regulate abortions in the state.