The results served as a rebuke of Trump and his Republican Party<\/a> and a salve for Democrats who have not had many good nights in the past year. Next will come a fierce, yearlong fight, first in redistricting battles and then the midterm elections, for control of the House of Representatives and the fate of Trump\u2019s agenda during the final two years of his term.<\/p>\n Here are six takeaways from the first major elections of the second Trump era.<\/p>\n 1. Democrats finally showed some fight<\/p>\n Democrats have spent the past year locked out of power in Washington, searching furiously but mostly in vain for ways to stop Trump from expanding his power.<\/p>\n They held protests, spoke all night in the Senate and organised \u201cNo Kings\u201d rallies that drew millions across the country.<\/p>\n On Tuesday, they finally hit back in a more concrete way.<\/p>\n Democrats won statewide elections in Virginia, New Jersey, California and Pennsylvania. They flipped seats on Georgia\u2019s Public Service Commission. And they were on the verge of winning a near two-thirds majority in the Virginia House of Delegates, an extraordinary sweep of battleground districts in races that serve as a plausible stand-in for how voters view both parties given the anonymous nature of most of the candidates.<\/p>\n In New York City, Zohran Mamdani was hovering around 50 per cent of the vote in the mayoral race as he coasted past former governor<\/a> Andrew Cuomo<\/a>, who won support from Trump and other Republicans.<\/p>\n When Democrats roared to victory in 2017, during Trump\u2019s first term, it foreshadowed a blue wave in the midterms a year later. On Tuesday night, House Democratic officials were crowing that this year\u2019s results would help them recruit strong candidates to challenge Republicans next year<\/p>\n [\u00a0New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani issues challenge to Donald Trump after stunning winOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n 2. It was a bad night for Trump <\/p>\n In Virginia, Democratic nominee Abigail Spanberger won the governor\u2019s race by focusing on Trump\u2019s firing of federal workers and the impact of the government shutdown on her state.<\/p>\n In the New Jersey governor\u2019s race, Democrat Mikie Sherrill finished her successful campaign by railing against Trump\u2019s demand that a key Hudson river tunnel be \u201cterminated.\u201d<\/p>\n In New York City, Trump\u2019s election-eve endorsement of Cuomo caused Republicans to swing toward the former governor, but failed to thwart Mamdani.<\/p>\n And in California, voters responded to calls to save the nation from Trump by approving a ballot measure to redraw the state\u2019s congressional districts to shift five of them to Democrats from Republicans.<\/p>\n The president was not on the ballot in any of these places, but in each one, Democrats ran against his policies and yoked their opponents to him.<\/p>\n After similar results in New Jersey and Virginia eight years ago, Democrats nearly ran the table in the 2018 midterm elections. Democrats are already arguing that Tuesday was a harbinger for the 2026 midterms, while Republicans claim it was a blue-state blip.<\/p>\n 3. Mamdani gives Democrats a new leader <\/p>\n In a year\u2019s time, Mamdani has gone from searching for random New Yorkers to talk to him to becoming one of the biggest stars in American politics.<\/p>\n Now the New York City mayor-elect at 34 years old, he represents the vanguard of Democratic politics. He is an unabashed progressive and a self-described democratic socialist who is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.<\/p>\n He also offers a new strategic blueprint to a Democratic Party that has for a decade been defined primarily by its opposition to Trump.<\/p>\n Mamdani, in defeating Cuomo in both the primary and general elections, gave New York voters a clear alternative with a defined vision. He focused relentlessly on the cost of living, spoke endlessly about the prices of nearly everything and expressed an adoration for New York City that few other politicians show for the places they call home.<\/p>\n And he did it by blazing a creative, compelling path online, both through his own social media channels and his appearances with scores of influencers and podcasters.<\/p>\n Mamdani\u2019s progressive politics may not play as well outside New York City, and Republicans have already signalled they will seek to tie the party\u2019s candidates to a Muslim immigrant, but Democrats running in the midterm elections are likely to copy his tactics and message discipline.<\/p>\n 4. Even Democrats will shrug at a scandal <\/p>\n In the final weeks of Virginia\u2019s campaign for attorney general, it was revealed that Jay Jones, the Democratic nominee, had sent violent text messages about a political rival and had been caught driving 116mph.<\/p>\n But no prominent Virginia Democrat called for him to quit the race. Jones apologised, withstood a torrent of attack ads and rode huge Democratic turnout to victory.<\/p>\n The post-shame era continues apace.<\/p>\n Such was the antipathy toward Republican candidates in Virginia that Jones, even saddled with controversy, performed better than vice-president Kamala Harris did last year in Loudoun County, a key exurb of Washington.<\/p>\n Jones\u2019s political future might have a ceiling because of his scandals in this election, but on Tuesday night, at least, he was as happy as could be.<\/p>\n 5. No Trump on the ballot? Advantage, Democrats <\/p>\n Trump drives Republican voters to the polls \u2013 but only when he is on the ballot.<\/p>\n Democrats have overperformed in every nonpresidential election year since 2017. Their voters are now the ones who turn out for off-year and midterm elections, while Trump\u2019s loyal Republican base turns out in big numbers only in presidential years.<\/p>\n This played out this year in Wisconsin\u2019s supreme court race, when the liberal candidate prevailed by double digits, and in a series of special elections. It was again evident on Tuesday as Democrats prevailed easily in Virginia and New Jersey.<\/p>\n Trump will not be on the ballot in next year\u2019s midterm elections, but it is a safe bet that Democrats will again try to make him the centrepiece of their campaigns.<\/p>\n 6. Newsom helped House Democrats, and himself <\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/F2EKV5BRSSYKF2OMK7JXLNQJSQ.jpg\")
A screen displays Abigail Spanberger as the projected winner of the Virginia gubernatorial election on Tuesday. Photograph: Kirsten Luce\/The New York Times<\/p>\n![\"Zohran](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WBFCNWSKO225CZ2QTLY24F77Z4.jpg\")
Zohran Mamdani gives a victory speech at a mayoral election night watch party in New York on Tuesday. Photograph: Yuki Iwamura\/AP <\/p>\n![\"Democrat](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/AU6R5TNIGRPZNOLAPGCT6HHORQ.jpg\")
Democrat Jay Jones won the Virginia attorney general\u2019s race. Photograph: Stephanie Scarbrough\/AP <\/p>\n![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/FOE63LLNZNA2BUNTKZKDL2NZNU.jpg\")
US president Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from Tuesday’s results. Photograph: Manuel Balce Ceneta\/AP <\/p>\n
![\"California](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/4QA4GEHRWDLCYDQRY6E5JGV3ZU.jpg\")
California govvernor Gavin Newsom speaks at a ‘Yes on Prop 50’ campaign rally in Los Angeles last Saturday. Photograph: Gabriela Bhaskar\/The New York Times<\/p>\n