Leading up to yesterday\u2019s Election Day, two closely watched governor\u2019s races attracted attention: Mikie Sherrill\u2019s in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger\u2019s in Virginia. <\/p>\n
Both candidates were centrist Democrats who rose to power in the first post-Trump wave\u2014part of the 2018 edition of the \u201cyear of the woman<\/a>.\u201d Both emphasized their veteran bona fides, Sherrill as a veteran herself and Spanberger as the daughter of one (and herself a former CIA officer). They were even roommates<\/a> on Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n But as Election Day drew closer, their races tightened. Some started to question<\/a> whether that approach\u2014compared to Zohran Mamdani\u2019s high-energy race for mayor in NYC as a democratic socialist\u2014could win voters today. <\/p>\n Last night, both Sherrill and Spanberger pulled it off (as did Mamdani). Their wins will tie an all-time high for women governors, with 14 soon to be in power<\/a>. <\/p>\n While Sherrill and Spanberger are more centrist than leftist, they still ran on issues driving voters right now: namely, affordability, with promises to lower costs of health care, housing, and utilities. Spanberger told supporters<\/a> after her win: \u201cWe sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship.\u201d Sherrill saw how historic this pair of wins was for<\/a> \u201cthe little girls who come up to me and say they\u2019re going to be a governor, or they\u2019re going to be a president.\u201d <\/p>\n Meanwhile, in NYC, voters chose universal child care<\/a>, one of the three pillars that drove Mamdani\u2019s unlikely race\u2014even chanting it back to the new mayor during his victory speech. And voters soundly rejected, in Andrew Cuomo, a candidate who the DOJ found to have sexually harassed<\/a> 13 women over his tenure as governor. <\/p>\n It was women who drove these election results<\/a>. In Virginia, 65% of women cast their ballots for Spanberger (whose opponent was also a woman, GOP lieutenant governor Winsome Earle-Sears). In New Jersey, Sherrill earned 62% of the female vote. In NYC, young voters delivered the most striking outcomes. Within that, young women stand out\u201484% of 18- to 29-year-old women went for Mamdani, who will be the city\u2019s first Muslim mayor and, at 34, its youngest in a century.<\/p>\n After months of debate among Democrats over how to reach young male voters<\/a>, the podcast manosphere, and the male discontentment that brought Trump back to a second term, these results can serve as a wake-up call: Sure, Democrats should try to reach those men\u2014but don\u2019t leave women behind. We still have power as candidates and at the polls. <\/p>\n Emma Hinchliffe The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune\u2019s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Subscribe here<\/a>.<\/p>\n ALSO IN THE HEADLINES<\/p>\n There’s a lot going on at Paramount. New mogul David Ellison is trying to build a tech and media giant\u2014one whose content has an “alpha male” bent. Then there’s the Bari Weiss takeover at CBS and recent layoffs in which 11 out of 14 TV execs let go were women. One familiar face is part of this new era: Cindy Holland, who developed Netflix’s original content strategy and was responsible for hits like\u00a0Stranger Things, is running Paramount’s direct-to-consumer operation. Variety<\/a>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n AMD is seeing “unprecedented growth opportunity.”\u00a0The chipmaker and Nvidia competitor beat some earnings estimates on Tuesday with revenue from data centers up 22% and client and gaming sales up 73%. CEO Lisa Su is pursuing that growth\u2014but its stock still fell slightly after earnings as investors worry about an AI infrastructure bubble.\u00a0WSJ<\/a><\/p>\n Sydney Sweeney has no regrets about that ‘jeans’ ad.\u00a0When she did the American Eagle campaign, criticized for a eugenics vibe with its play on “genes\/jeans,” she was just doing a “jean ad,” she says. President Trump’s reaction to it was “surreal,” she adds. American Eagle has also stood by the ad and says it drove sales. Variety<\/a><\/p>\n The power of the Fortune MPW Summit in action. Alta founder Jenny Wang, whose app is an AI personal stylist, met TaskRabbit CEO Ania Smith at the Summit in October. The two companies have just launched a partnership<\/a>\u2014TaskRabbit will help Alta users get their closets onboarded to the app.\n<\/p>\n ON MY RADAR<\/p>\n After Smithsonian controversy, Amy Sherald opens to fanfare in Baltimore\u00a0Washington Post<\/a><\/p>\n Monarch Collective makes first deal in European football\u00a0Bloomberg<\/a><\/p>\n Margaret Atwood on the lessons she learned as a young girl\u00a0WSJ Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n PARTING WORDS<\/p>\n “In my work, I\u2019ve always given myself that permission to kindly and lovingly ask for what I need. But when it comes to my real life, that is where I don\u2019t know how. It\u2019s been a work in progress for years.”<\/p>\n \u2014 Ariana Grande, who’s getting ready for the release<\/a> of\u00a0Wicked: For Good\u00a0this month\n<\/p>\n
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com<\/a><\/p>\n