In a sweeping victory, Democrats secured major wins across key battlegrounds. In Virginia, Democrats flipped the offices of governor, lt. governor, and attorney general, and flipped 13 seats in the lower chamber. New Jersey Democrats maintained control of the governor’s office. California Democrats pushed new, favorable congressional districts through the ballot box, and a self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist will be the new mayor of the nation’s largest city.
New Jersey Gubernatorial
Sitting Governor Phil Murphy (D) was term limited and will leave office after eight years. U.S. Representative Mikie Sherrill (D) had an edge in most polls against former New Jersey Assemblymember Jack Ciattarelli (R), and both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated the race as Lean Democratic. However, the race did tighten considerably in the days leading up to the election according to polls, and both parties treated the contest as highly competitive.
In the end, it was an early night. Sherrill secured 56.2% of the vote while Ciattarelli has garnered 43.2%. With Sherrill’s victory, Democrats maintain the trifecta they have held in New Jersey since Governor Murphy took office in 2018.
First elected to Congress in 2018, Sherrill represents New Jersey’s 11th District. Prior to her time in office, Sherrill served for one year as Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey and almost ten years on active duty in the United States Navy. She supports decreasing health care and energy costs, improving housing affordability by increasing new home construction, and expanding job training programs and apprenticeships. Sherrill has released an online safety agenda, where she has promised to enact an Age Appropriate Design Code and ban the usage of cell phones in public school classrooms. The agenda also addresses artificial intelligence (AI) with plans to require developers of AI products to offer detection tools for users and to label AI-generated content.
New Jersey Assembly
All 80 seats in the New Jersey State Assembly were also on the ballot in yesterday’s election. Democrats have flipped at least three seats to strengthen their control of the chamber. Votes are still being counted as we publish this post.
Virginia Gubernatorial
After the most expensive gubernatorial race in the state’s history, Democrats have reclaimed Virginia’s top office as former U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger handily defeated Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R) with 57.24% of the vote. The victory gives Democrats a governing trifecta and the state its first female governor. Polling in the weeks leading up to election day indicated Spanberger was pulling ahead in the race, and yesterday’s finish exceeded the gap that polling showed.
First elected to Congress in 2018, Spanberger served three terms representing Virginia’s competitive 7th district. Her campaign focused on tackling the cost of childcare, removing regulatory burdens for small businesses, and growing the state’s workforce training and apprenticeship programs. She hopes to bring clean energy jobs through investments in offshore wind, rooftop solar, and other renewable energy sources. Spanberger supports raising the state’s minimum wage to $15 and establishing a paid family and medical leave program.
Virginia Attorney General
Democratic candidate Jay Jones received 52.82% of the vote defeating incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares (R).
In the most recent polls leading up to election day, Miyares and Jones were head-to-head. The race grew tighter after texts from 2022 between Jones and a colleague discussing a hypothetical killing of a Republican state lawmaker and his children were made public in the month leading up to election day. Jones issued a formal apology for the texts calling them a “grave mistake.” Many state and federal Republican lawmakers called for Jones to step out of the race, while Democrats condemned Jones’ actions but did not publicly call for the end of his campaign.
As attorney general, Jones will likely focus much of his efforts on resisting the Trump Administration’s policies and joining other Democratic state attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration over various policy actions. He has also vowed to improve public safety, strengthen the state’s justice system, take on predatory lending practices in the housing market, and target corporate polluters to safeguard clean air and water laws in Virginia.
Virginia House of Delegates
All 100 seats of the Virginia House of Delegates were on the ballot Tuesday, with many competitive races across the state. Democrats picked up 13 new seats, increasing their (1-seat) majority significantly to 64 out of 100 seats.
New York City Mayor
Following record-breaking voter turnout, Democratic Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani will become New York City’s next mayor after receiving approximately 50.4% of the vote.
In the weeks leading up to election day, few local contests drew as much national attention as New York City’s mayoral race. On the final day of early voting, more people had voted in the 2025 mayoral general election (~151,000) than in the final day of early voting in the 2024 presidential general election (~149,000). Mamdani went up against former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo and Republican candidate Curtis Silwa in the general election. The campaign took a dramatic turn earlier in the fall when incumbent Mayor Eric Adams (D) withdrew under mounting pressure from outside groups. As November 4 approached, some even urged Sliwa to exit the race to consolidate support behind Cuomo. The day before the election, President Donald Trump effectively gave his endorsement to Cuomo during an interview on CBS’ “60 Minutes,” stating "I’m not a fan of Cuomo one way or the other, but if it’s gonna be between a bad Democrat and a communist, I’m gonna pick the bad Democrat all the time to be honest with you.” In the same interview, Trump also suggested that he could potentially withhold funds from New York City should Mamdani be elected.
For his mayoral campaign, Mamdani positioned himself as a Democratic Socialist candidate, vowing to address housing, safety, affordability, small business, libraries, and education. He named affordability as one of his top priorities, with proposals to create city-owned grocery stores, eliminate the city bus fare, ban non-compete clauses, and implement free childcare between the ages of 6 weeks to 5 years old. To address the housing crisis, Mamdani has promised to freeze the rent for all stabilized tenants, construct 200,000 new affordable housing units over the next 10 years, and create a new Office of Deed Theft Prevention. His revenue plan includes raising the corporate tax to 11.5% and enacting a flat 2% tax on those earning above $1 million annually.
California Proposition 50
California held a special election yesterday where voters resoundingly passed Proposition 50, which temporarily sets aside the state’s nonpartisan citizen redistricting commission to adopt new congressional lines for the next three election cycles that will favor Democrats. With approximately 70% of the vote in, there are over 2 million more “Yes” votes than “No” votes.
Proposition 50 is a direct response to Republican-favored redistricting in Texas earlier this year and was championed by Governor Gavin Newsom (D) as an opportunity for Californians to take a stand against the Trump Administration.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court
Pennsylvania voters were asked yesterday whether to give three Democratic state Supreme Court justices another 10-year term on the bench in a nonpartisan retention election. Usually a quiet affair, this year’s election drew an unusual amount of attention and money. Spending was on pace to surpass $15 million in the final days, a record for a judicial retention race in Pennsylvania.
The state’s Supreme Court has taken on growing national significance in recent years, weighing in on issues like mail-in voting, redistricting, and ballot certification. In the end, all three justices will remain on the bench after receiving a “yes” vote from voters.