Results of the midterm elections dominated the front pages of many European newspapers’ latest editions, which is not surprising given the general fascination on the Continent for all things American. It almost comes as a relief to some European capitals, notably London and Rome, that for the first time in months the world’s focus is on political drama elsewhere. 

Britain’s pro-Tory Telegraph newspaper declared early that “Donald Trump is the biggest loser of 2022 midterms,” adding that the “the former president backed a slew of losing candidates while his main rival trounced the field.”

There is a definite uptick in fascination with Florida following Governor DeSantis’s landslide re-election victory: “the heavyweight of the Republican party,” France’s Le Figaro chirped, while leftist Le Monde observed that Mr. DeSantis had already become a media fixture. Britain’s left-leaning Guardian newspaper noted various remarks from Mr. DeSantis’s victory speech at Tampa, including: “We will never ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.” The newspaper reported that the governor “smiled broadly” when supporters chanted “two more years.” It is not clear yet whether Mr. DeSantis intends to serve a full second term or run for president in 2024. 

Russia’s propagandistic Komsomolskaya Pravda characterized Mr. DeSantis as Mr. Trump’s “dangerous political competitor,” while Italy’s La Repubblica reported that the DeSantis “triumph” in Florida has the “tycoon” Donald Trump worried he could be a challenger in Republican Party presidential primaries. With respect to Pennsylvania, the newspaper said that “the land of uncertainty, of steel mills, of the middle class, but also of Joe Biden’s childhood was not so uncertain in the end: Pennsylvania is blue.” Pennsylvania “elected a liberal governor, Josh Shapiro, and a left-wing radical senator, John Fetterman,” it reported. 

For the Times of London, Mr. Fetterman is the “tattooed everyman who overcame a stroke to take Pennsylvania.” Adding details less widely known on British shores than in America, the Times noted that Mr. Fetterman, “standing six feet, nine inches tall, with tattoos and a penchant for wearing hoodies, made it his mission to win back the predominantly white working-class voters of Pennsylvania who had increasingly rejected the Democrats in recent years.”

Other newspapers such as Greece’s Ta Nea highlighted the election of 25-year-old Maxwell Frost to represent Florida’s 10th congressional district, making him the first “member” of Generation Z who will serve in Congress. According to the newspaper, “The young African-American, raised by an adoptive mother of Cuban descent, will probably stand out in the coming years among the dozens of gray-haired whites who make up most of the members of the US Congress: in the lower house, the average age is 58 years.”

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While Americans and the world await more election results, the Canadian press is tracking a different kind of story: Chinese interference in Canada’s elections. This ongoing development has been somewhat obscured by the attention turned to the U.S. midterms. Today’s National Post did a neat summing-up: “Justin Trudeau’s acknowledgement that the Chinese are playing ‘aggressive games’ by interfering in Canadian elections is about as shocking as Captain Renault finding gambling was rampant at Rick’s Cafe in Casablanca.” China allegedly meddled in Canada’s 2019 election by making payments through intermediaries to at least 11 federal candidates.

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Away from Washington’s political tremors and the political scandal at Ottawa, there is of course a war being fought in Europe, and more mixed signals about the elusive prospect of negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv. The Wall Street Journal reported that President Zelensky is  “open to ‘genuine peace talks’ with Russia, following pressure from Western backers to signal readiness for negotiations amid concerns about the rising costs of the eight-month war.” 

Enter some intrigue, though, courtesy the always feisty Italian press. On Monday a La Repubblica correspondent, Claudio Tito, reported that NATO has been quietly steering Ukraine to the negotiating table but only after an anticipated retaking of Kherson, the port city from which most Russian troops are  already said to have retreated. Mr. Tito reported that “confidential communication” between Washington and Brussels has identified a “short-term negotiation window” — to wit, for Ukraine to “push for a ceasefire from a position of strength” once its forces reach the banks of the Dnieper River. 

That would be a stunning development because it could effectively bring the war to a halt, at least temporarily — but Ukraine doesn’t seem to be buying it. Following La Repubblica’s initial story, the newspaper also reported the response of one of President Zelensky’s top advisors, Mykhailo Podolyak: “For Ukraine, negotiating after Kherson is a gift to Putin.”

Speaking of Mr. Putin and the elections in America, Russian media on Wednesday quoted the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, as saying, “These elections won’t have any significant impact. Our existing ties are bad and they will remain bad.”