Wednesday Reads: Democrats Dominated Yesterday’s Off-Year Elections

Good Day!!

Finally some good news! Democrats won big in yesterday’s elections, as voters sent a clear message to Trump. Democrats won the four big races: Virginia governor, New Jersey governor, New York City mayor, and California redistricting question. They also won less publicized races.

Here’s what happened:

NBC News: Democrat Abigail Spanberger wins Virginia governor’s race.

Democrat Abigail Spanberger has defeated Republican Winsome Earle-Sears to flip control of the Virginia governorship, NBC News projects, setting her up to become the first woman to lead the state.

Abigail Spanberger acceptance speech

Spanberger, a former congresswoman, won the race in the blue-leaning state after holding polling and fundraising advantages throughout the campaign. Her victory provides Democrats with a shot of momentum as the party attempts to chart its path forward after its 2024 election defeat.

With an estimated 95% of the vote in, Spanberger had 57.4% of the vote, compared to 42.4% for Earle-Sears.

Virginia was one of two states, along with New Jersey, that held the first governor’s races of President Donald Trump’s second term.

Spanberger, 47, centered her campaign heavily on economic and affordability issues, as well public safety and her support for abortion rights. Her campaign and allied groups attacked Earle-Sears over her conservative record on social issues and her fealty to Trump.

“Tonight, we sent message,” Spanberger said in victory speech in Richmond. “We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025 Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our Commonwealth over chaos.”

Jim Saksa at Democracy Docket: Democrats Sweep Statewide Races in Virginia, Projected to Gain Delegate Seats, As Voters Reject Trumpism.

In a rebuke to President Donald Trump, Democrat Abigail Spanberger won Virginia’s gubernatorial race Tuesday, part of a Democratic sweep of statewide races. Her support for constitutional amendments on redistricting and voting rights restoration could make it easier to pass both pro-democracy measures.

Spanberger, a former U.S. Representative and CIA official, will replace term-limited Glenn Youngkin (R) in Richmond, after defeating Lt. Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (R) to become Virginia’s first female governor. Spanberger ran a staunchly anti-Trump campaign.

In another sign of Democratic strength, former delegate Jay Jones (D) unseated incumbent Jason Miyares (R) in the attorney general’s race — a contest many observers had expected Miyares to win after Jones was mired in a texting scandal. And State Sen. Ghazala F. Hashmi (D) won the Lt. Governor’s race over Republican radio host John Reid, becoming the first Muslim woman to win a statewide race in the U.S.

“Commonwealth voters made it clear what they were looking for from their next governor: lower costs, good jobs, affordable health care, and strong schools. And tonight, those same voters made it clear who they want to lead: Abigail Spanberger,” Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement. “With tonight’s victory, Virginians also delivered a resounding rejection of the self-serving and corrupt Trump establishment.”

Down ballot, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) announced that the party had maintained control of the Virginia House of Delegates. “With several key races yet to be called, Democrats have already secured enough seats to protect their majority in the Virginia House of Delegates tonight – the most competitive legislative chamber on the ballot this year,” the DLCC said in a statement.

That would mean Democrats hold a trifecta of both chambers of the General Assembly and the governor’s mansion as they push for a series of pro-democratic reforms next year.

NBC News: Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill wins New Jersey governor’s race.

Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill won the New Jersey governor’s race, NBC News projects, defeating Republican Jack Ciattarelli after a hard-fought contest in which President Donald Trump loomed over voters’ choice.

Governor Elect Mikie Sherrill speaks to the crowd at the Hilton East Brunswick on Election Night. November 4, 2025

Sherrill worked to make the race a referendum on the president, casting Ciattarelli as a Trump acolyte who will not stand up to the president….

Trump made gains across the country in 2024, but his second-biggest gain in any state came in New Jersey. The president lost the state by 6 points last year, a 10-point improvement over his margin in the 2020 election. Now, Sherrill’s victory sends a signal that Republicans can’t expect those improved results from Trump to represent a straight line forward into future elections. Instead, the party is facing headwinds, as voters react to the president’s handling of the economy and other issues.

Following Trump’s closer-than-expected finish in 2024, the New Jersey governor’s race drew more than $100 million in ad spending from both parties, according to AdImpact. The contest presented an early test, ahead of next year’s midterm elections, of how to appeal to swingy Latino voters and navigate rising costs, especially for electricity. Democrats also looked to energize their party’s core supporters, particularly Black voters, while Republicans confronted the persistent challenge of turning out Trump’s supporters when he is not on the ballot.

A majority of New Jersey voters (54%) disapproved of Trump’s job as president and nearly two-thirds were dissatisfied or angry about the direction of the country, according to the NBC News exit poll.

Trump was also a factor for a slim majority of New Jersey voters, with Sherrill winning virtually all of the 38% of voters who said their vote was to oppose Trump, while Ciattarelli won the 13% of voters who said their vote was to support Trump.

NBC News: Zohran Mamdani wins the New York mayoral race.

Democrat Zohran Mamdani has won New York’s mayoral race, NBC News projects, after the 34-year-old democratic socialist energized progressives in the city and across the country while generating intense backlash from President Donald Trump and Republicans, as well as some Democratic moderates.

Zohran Mamdami wins NYC mayoral race.

In his victory speech after vanquishing former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Mamdani claimed a broad mandate and set himself up in direct opposition to Trump, who made a late endorsement against him. “In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light,” Mamdani said.

“Together, we will usher in a generation of change, and if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves,” Mamdani said later, before challenging Trump directly.

“This is not only how we stop Trump, it’s how we stop the next one,” Mamdani said. “So Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.”

Trump wasn’t the only subject of Mamdani’s speech, which he started by quoting the 19th- and 20th-century American socialist Eugene Debs and continued by promising the “most ambitious agenda” to address costs in New York City since the administration of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia nearly 100 years ago.

Mamdani defeated Cuomo, who ran as a third-party candidate after losing the Democratic primary in June, by about 9 points, with Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa trailing far behind. Mayor Eric Adams, who also mounted a third-party campaign for re-election after he won as a Democrat in 2021, dropped out of the race in September and endorsed Cuomo last month.

Lauren Gambino at The Guardian: Prop 50: Californians pass redistricting measure that helps Democrats flip up to five House seats.

Voters in California on Tuesday approved a high-stakes redistricting measure, a national triumph for Democrats hoping to stop Donald Trump and Republicans from retaining full control of the federal government in next year’s midterm elections.

It was a decisive victory for Democrats in deep-blue California, who had raced to counter a gerrymander in Texas, engineered at the US president’s behest, to carve out new safe Republican districts. The Associated Press declared Proposition 50 had passed almost instantly when polls closed statewide.

Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks after Prop. 50 win.

“We stood stood firm in response to Donald Trump’s recklessness, and tonight, after poking the bear, this bear roared with unprecedented turnout in a special election with an extraordinary result,” Gavin Newsom, the California governor, who spearheaded the initiative said in a speech at the Democratic party headquarters in Sacramento….

In approving the measure, voters chose to toss out the work of California’s independent redistricting commission and temporarily adopt maps drawn by the state legislature to help Democrats pick up five additional seats in the US House of Representatives.

Newsom and Democrats framed the measure as a way to safeguard US democracy from Trump’s “wrecking ball” presidency….

Democrats hold 43 of the state’s 52 House seats. The new maps are drawn to help Democrats flip as many as five of the nine Republican-held seats in the state. It could also help make several swing seats easier for Democrats to win.

Five seats could be decisive in the fight to retake control of the House, a chamber likely to be decided by razor-thin margins. The party that wins the majority will shape the final years of Trump’s second term in the White House – whether a unified Republican Congress will continue to deliver on his agenda or whether he will be met with resistance, investigations and possibly even a third impeachment attempt.

There were some notable victories for Democrats in the deep South:

Ashton Pittman at the Mississippi Free Press: Mississippi Democrats Break Republican Senate Supermajority, Flipping 3 Legislative Seats.

After 13 years, Mississippi Democrats have broken the Republican Party’s supermajority in the Mississippi Senate. Voters elected Democrats to two seats previously held by Republicans, reducing the number of Republican senators in the upper chamber from 36 to 34—one fewer than necessary to constitute a supermajority.

When a party has supermajority status in the Mississippi Senate, it can more easily override a governor’s veto, propose constitutional amendments and execute certain procedural actions.

Johnny DuPree

The Mississippi Democratic Party called the victory “a historic rebuke of extremism.”

“Breaking the supermajority means restoring checks and balances—and ensuring that every Mississippian’s voice counts in their state government,” Mississippi Democratic Party Vice Chair Jodie Brown said in a party press release this morning.

In the Mississippi Pine Belt region, Democrat Johnny DuPree won Senate District 45, previously held by Republican Sen. Chris Johnson of Hattiesburg. In North Mississippi, Democrat Theresa Gillespie Isom won the Senate District 2 seat held by Republican Sen. David Parker of Olive Branch, who decided not to run for reelection.

Republicans had held a supermajority in the Senate since sweeping the state government in 2011.

In the House, Democrat Justin Crosby also flipped House District 22, defeating incumbent Republican House Rep. Jon Lancaster. That district includes parts of Chickasaw, Clay and Monroe counties.

Elena Schneider, Erin Doherty and Jessica Piper at Politico:

For Democrats, Tuesday night felt like 2017 all over again.

All across the country, Democrats won big, from the marquee races to the down-ballot contests. Counties that had shifted right a year ago veered back to the left, and the suburbs that powered Democrats’ massive wins in the first Trump administration came roaring back. Exit polls even showed Democrats improved their margins with non-college educated voters.

The strength of the wins hints at Democrats’ appetite to take on Trump as he ends his first year in office and voters’ concerns about cost of living.

Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill cruised to double-digit victories in Virginia and New Jersey. Two Georgia Democrats flipped seats on the state’s Public Service Commission, the first non-federal statewide wins for a Democrat in nearly two decades. Democrats flipped a pair of Republican-held state Senate seats in Mississippi, cracking the GOP supermajority in a deep-red state. And a successful California ballot measure delivered five additional seats for the party’s House margins ahead of the 2026 midterms, offsetting Texas’ redistricting push.

It was an injection of life into a depleted, depressed Democratic Party that had been cast into the political wilderness by Donald Trump’s decisive victory a year ago. Democrats, locked out of power in Washington, have spent the last year soul-searching and data-digging, as their brand sagged to historic lows.

But they also started to overperform in special elections, hinting that the tide was turning. And on Tuesday, their first big electoral test of the second Trump era, they didn’t just match the wins from eight years ago that had been a harbinger of a blue wave in the 2018 midterms — in several key races, they exceeded them….

Democrats rode the traditional, party-out-of-power tailwinds, reenergizing their own base by pushing back on Trump’s second-term policies that have alarmed liberals. Spanberger’s and Sherrill’s messaging on the stagnant economy and affordability crisis helped their party bounce back in its first political test of the second Trump era — and by margins that even surprised some Democrats.

Ariel Edwards-Levy at CNN: CNN exit polls: Voters’ dissatisfaction with Trump helped fuel Democratic wins in key races.

Last November, Donald Trump won a return to the White House amid broad national dissatisfaction with the state of the country. A year later, CNN exit polling finds voters expressing similar pessimism and anti-incumbent sentiments — this time, helping to fuel a sweep of Democratic victories in some of the first major electoral tests of the second Trump presidency.

Across four closely watched contests — the governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, the mayoral race in New York City and the redistricting-related Proposition 50 in California — majorities of voters disapprove of Trump’s job performance. In Virginia, New Jersey and California, more than half of the electorate sees their vote as sending a message to Trump. That message, largely one of opposition, helped to propel Democratic gubernatorial wins by Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey and Abigail Spanberger in Virginia. In California, it helped seal support for Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to redraw the state’s congressional maps.

Democrat Zohran Mamdani’s win in New York City’s mayoral race, meanwhile, may owe more to local concerns about issues like cost of living. But it also reflects a loss for former governor Andrew Cuomo, whom Trump endorsed at the last minute.

Tuesday’s Democratic victories come despite middling ratings for the Democratic Party, with Spanberger, Sherrill and Mamdani winning 16% to 33% of the vote among voters who dislike their party.

Read the details at the CNN link.

Some deeper analysis from Paul Krugman: Which Party Is in Trouble, Again?

Yesterday was a very good day for Democrats and a very bad day for both MAGA and the oligarchy. If I were a properly house-trained pundit, I would immediately follow that statement by throwing some shade at Democrats. But this was a blowout, pure and simple.

Here are a few takes on what just happened:

The polls beat the pundits

Nobody should have been surprised that Democrats had a very good night. These elections were, as expected, largely a referendum on Donald Trump, and polling says that Trump is very, very unpopular. Even if you dismissed Trump’s dismal approval rating as fake news, there were plenty of other indications that Trump would drag his party down. The second No Kings Day was the largest one-day demonstration since Earth Day in 1970. Democrats have been outperforming by something like 15 points in special elections. And polling averages favored Democrats in key races.

So everything pointed to big Dem gains, although the scale of the victories was a surprise. There had been a steady drumbeat of warnings that Mikie Sherrill, in particular, might be in trouble. Instead she won in a 13-point landslide….

It’s still (largely) the economy, stupid

The 2024 election was mainly about economics. There was a big runup in prices in 2021-22, as the world economy, recovering from Covid, experienced a lot of supply-chain bottlenecks. This price surge, coming after decades of low inflation, upset voters. Biden administration officials could and did point out that it was a one-time price hike, that inflation — the rate of change of prices — fell rapidly from its 2022 peak, and was back to more or less normal levels by 2024. They could also point out that America’s inflation experience was very similar to the experiences of other nations, e.g. in Europe, indicating that global factors rather than Democratic policies were the main culprit.

But voters were unmoved by these arguments, if they heard about them at all. What they did hear was Donald Trump promising not just to reduce inflation but to bring prices way back down. And many of them believed him.

Of course, Trump didn’t have a plan, or even a concept of a plan, about how to accomplish this. Instead he imposed tariffs and began deporting immigrant workers, both of which raised prices….

So prices haven’t come down; instead, inflation has accelerated. And the job market has gotten worse. Thanks to the shutdown, we’re not getting official employment numbers, but I’ve been looking at private surveys. One number I find especially striking is the Conference Board’s “labor market differential,” the difference between the percentage of Americans who say jobs are “plentiful” and those who say jobs are “hard to get.” This number is way down, which says that ordinary Americans perceive a very tough job market.

Read more at the Substack link above.

Some significant legal news:

The Supreme Court is hearing arguments on Trump’s idiotic tariffs. CNN: Trump admin faces deeply skeptical Supreme Court in early tariff arguments.

In the most significant economic case to reach the Supreme Court in years, the justices are weighing whether President Donald Trump acted lawfully when he imposed sweeping emergency tariffs against most global trading partners. Those actions have been challenged by a group of small- and medium-sized businesses, as well as a dozen states.

• Early in arguments, President Donald Trump’s attorney faced deep skepticism from several key conservative justices. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh all pressed on the administration’s arguments for imposing tariffs.

• Both sides frame the appeal in existential terms, with Trump warning that a ruling against him could have “catastrophic” consequences for the nation’s economic health. The companies challenging the policy say the on-again-off-again tariff announcements have driven costs – and uncertainty – to intolerable levels.

• Plaintiff arguments are now underway.

Follow live updates and expert commentary at the CNN link.

Natalie Sherman at BBC News: Trump tariffs head to Supreme Court in case eagerly awaited around the world.

What may be the biggest battle yet in Donald Trump’s trade war is getting under way.

The US Supreme Court is hearing arguments over the legality of the Trump administration’s tariffs, as a number of small businesses and a group of states contend most of them are illegal and should be struck down.

If the court agrees with them, Trump’s trade strategy would be upended, including the sweeping global tariffs he first announced in April. The government would also likely have to refund some of the billions of dollars it has collected through the tariffs, which are taxes on imports.

Following Wednesday’s hearing, the justices will pore over the arguments and discuss the merits of the case, which could take months. Eventually they will hold a vote.

Trump has described the fight in epic terms, warning a loss would tie his hands in trade negotiations and imperil national security….

Trump previously said that if he does not win the case the US would be “weakened” and in a “financial mess” for many years to come.

The stakes feel just as high for many businesses in the US and abroad, which have been paying the price while getting whipped about by fast-changing policies.

More at the link.

The guy who threw a sandwich at a federal agent is on trial in DC. Adam Downer at The Daily Beast: D.C. Hoagie Hurler Trial Begins—And It’s Already a Hot Mess.

A jury in Washington D.C. started hearing Tuesday the case against the man who agrees he threw a footlong at a federal agent surged into Washington D.C. by Donald Trump in August. The 12 citizens have to decide if DOJ paralegal Sean Dunn is guilty of misdemeanor assault, or was simply exercising his First Amendment rights.

FBI and Border Patrol officers speak with Sean Charles Dunn, after he allegedly assaulted law enforcement with a sandwich. Getty Images

Convicting Dunn, who was fired from his job, has become a personal mission for Trump’s United States District Attorney in D.C., Fox News personality “Judge” Jeanine Pirro, who failed to get a grand jury to agree to felony charges. She then took the rare step of pursuing a misdemeanor charge of assaulting, resisting, opposing, impeding, intimidating and interfering with a federal officer instead.

Dunn is accused of shouting “f—ing fascists” at a group of federal agents outside a Subway 14th St. N.W. in D.C. at 11p.m. on Sunday August 10. Prosecutors allege he said, “F— you! You f—ing fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!” before “winding his arm back and forcefully throwing a sub-style sandwich” at Border Patrol Agent Gregory Lairmore.

Footage of the sandwich stand-off went viral almost instantly and Dunn was quickly identified, fired, called a member of the “deep state” by Pirro and finally arrested in a SWAT-style raid on his home filmed by the DOJ and released gleefully by the White House. If convicted, Dunn would face a maximum of six months in jail and a $1000 fine.

Dunn’s attorney, Julia Gatto, told the jury Tuesday that Dunn “did it,” saying, “He threw the sandwich,” CNN reported.

But then the defense turned the proceedings upside down by effectively putting Lairmore on trial.

“The sandwich kind of exploded all over my uniform,” Lairmore initially told the jury. “It smelled of onions and mustard.”

A second defense attorney Sabrina Shroff, however, showed a photo of an almost intact sandwich lying on the ground.“In fact that sandwich hasn’t exploded at all,” she said.

“From the photo it looks bent and out of shape,” the officer said.

“Can you tell if it’s a turkey sandwich?” Shroff asked him. “Lettuce? Tomatoes?”

More silly stuff at the link.

That’s all I have for you today. I’m feeling more optimistic after yesterday’s elections, and I hope you are too.

 

#AbigailSpanberger #CaliforniaRedistrictingVote #DonaldTrump #MickieSherrill #MississippiSenate #offYearElections #SandwichThrowingGuyTrial #SupremeCourtTariffsCase #VoterDissatisfactionWithTrump #ZohranMamdani