Democratic candidates notched wins in gubernatorial races in New Jersey and Virginia on Tuesday night, and in New York City’s high-profile mayoral contest, in the first major elections since Donald Trump regained the presidency.
Democrat Abigail Spanberger won Virginia’s election for governor, according to The Associated Press, NBC News, CBS News and Fox News.
Spanberger, 46, a former congresswoman and CIA officer, will be the first woman to serve as Virginia’s governor after easily defeating Republican Lt.-Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
In New Jersey Democrat Mikie Sherrill had been was locked in what opinion polls suggested was a tight battle with Republican Jack Ciattarelli, but after polls closed The Associated Press, CBS News, CNN and NBC News declared Sherrill as the winner.
Across the river in New York City’s closely watched mayoral race, Democrat Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist, defeated 67-year-old Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat running as a more centrist Independent four years after resigning as the state’s governor.
The campaign served as an ideological and generational contest that could have national implications for the Democratic Party.
Mikie Sherrill, the Democratic nominee for New Jersey governor, is seen arriving to vote in Montclair, N.J., on Tuesday. (Mike Segar/Reuters)
In California, voters approved new congressional district boundaries, delivering a victory for Democrats in the state-by-state redistricting battle that will help determine which party wins control of the U.S. House in 2026 and, with it, the power to thwart or advance Trump’s agenda.
The approval of Proposition 50 gives Democrats a shot at winning as many as five additional seats, just enough to blunt Texas Republicans’ move to redraw their own maps to pick up five GOP seats at Trump’s urging.
Texas’ move and California’s response have kicked off a flurry of redistricting efforts around the country, with Republican states appearing to have an edge. Deeply blue California is Democrats’ best opportunity to make up seats.
Victory for Newsom
Midterm elections typically punish the party in the White House, and Trump is fighting to maintain his party’s slim House majority. Republicans hold 219 seats to Democrats’ 213.
Tuesday’s results mark a political victory for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who cast the measure as an essential tool to fight back against Trump and protect American democracy.
Trump, who overwhelmingly lost California in his three presidential campaigns, largely stayed out of the fray. A week before the election, he urged voters in a social media post not to vote early or by mail — messaging that conflicted with that of top Republicans in the state who urged people to get their ballots in as soon as possible.
In a post Tuesday on his social media platform, the president called the state’s voting process “RIGGED” and warned that it was “under very serious legal and criminal review. STAY TUNED!”Â
Supporters of Proposition 50 gather on a pedestrian overpass in Richmond, Calif., on Tuesday. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)Democrats watching results closely
Democrats were watching Tuesday’s results carefully, with the party locked out of power in Washington and struggling to find consensus on the best way to oppose Trump and find a path out of the political wilderness.
Spanberger will succeed outgoing Republican Glenn Youngkin, who could not run for consecutive terms under state law. Her campaign combined an emphasis on lowering the high cost of living with plenty of criticisms of Trump, whose assault on the federal bureaucracy has had an outsized impact in Virginia, adjacent to Washington and home to many government workers.
In interviews at polling stations on Tuesday, some voters said Trump’s most contentious policies were on their minds, including his efforts to deport immigrants in the U.S. illegally and impose costly tariffs on imports of foreign goods, the legality of which is being weighed by the U.S. Supreme Court this week.
Turnout appeared high across the board.
In New York City, more than two million ballots including early voting were cast, according to the board of elections, the most in a mayoral race since 1969. Early vote totals in Virginia and New Jersey also outpaced the previous elections in 2021.
Trump looms over ballot
Trump remained top of mind for many voters despite not appearing on the ballot.
In Virginia, Juan Benitez, a self-described Independent, was voting for the first time. The 25-year-old restaurant manager backed all of Virginia’s Democratic candidates because of his opposition to Trump’s immigration policies and the federal government shutdown, which he blamed on Trump.
Jennifer Manton, 47, said she had voted for Trump all three times he ran for president, and backed Republican candidates on Tuesday, citing Trump’s tariffs as a major issue.
WATCH | Why this NYC election was different:
How Zohran Mamdani is reshaping New York’s mayoral race
Zohran Mamdani is shaking up New York’s mayoral race with a socialist platform that includes rent control and public transportation. The front-runner’s message is drawing both support and backlash from the city’s financial elite, including the U.S. president.Midterm elections still a year away
While Tuesday’s results will offer some insight into the mood of American voters, the midterm elections are a year away, an eternity in politics.
“There’s nothing that’s going to happen in Virginia or New Jersey that’s going to tell us much about what will happen in a congressional district in Missouri or a Senate race in Maine,” said Douglas Heye, a Republican strategist.
Democrats will be watching the results of key elections on Tuesday night and then assessing how U.S. President Donald Trump has factored in to what voters decide in the various election races. (Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images)
For Democrats, Tuesday’s candidates offer a chance to assess differing playbooks.
Spanberger and Sherrill, both moderate Democrats with backgrounds in national security, put Trump front and centre, seeking to harness anger at the president’s no-holds-barred agenda.
For Republicans, Tuesday’s elections were a test of whether the voters who powered Trump’s victory in 2024 will still show up when he is not on the ballot.
But Ciattarelli and Earle-Sears, each running in Democratic-leaning states, have faced a conundrum: criticizing Trump risks losing his supporters, but embracing him too closely could alienate moderate and independent voters who disapprove of his policies.
A depiction of the Statue of Liberty is seen outside a polling station in Arlington, Va., on Tuesday. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)