Democrats ran the table in the major off-season elections on Tuesday. Their candidates scored big wins in New York City, New Jersey, and Virginia.
Going into election night, almost every poll forecast Democratic wins. Those predictions held true after counting all the ballots. The victories include the first Muslim mayor of New York City and the first female governor of Virginia.
"As we say on Steinway, ana minkum wa alaikum," Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (D) declared in Arabic. That means, "I'm one of you, and I am for you."
"This will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve, rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attack," said Mamdani in his victory speech. "Central to that vision will be the most ambitious agenda to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that this city has seen since the days of Fiorello La Guardia."
New York City elected Mamdani as a self-described socialist and the city's first Muslim mayor. He ran against disgraced former Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo who had resigned in scandal, running as an independent, and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
As a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel, which is considered antisemitic by many, Mamdani argues his criticisms are directed at Israel's government. His progressive platform includes rent freezes, free bus fare, city-run grocery stores, and universal childcare.
Other Races
In Virginia, Democrats won all three statewide offices. Abigail Spanberger will be the state's first female governor after defeating Republican Winsome Earle-Sears.
"Right now, our federal workforce is under attack," Spanberger said during her victory speech. "And the chaos coming out of Washington is killing Virginia jobs and creating economic uncertainty for tens of thousands of families, government employees, government contractors, small business owners who are impacted... Virginia's economy doesn't work when Washington treats our Virginia workers as expendable."
The sweep, however, was not without controversy. Voters elected Democrat Attorney General Jay Jones despite his disturbing text messages from 2022 in which he wrote about giving a GOP rival "two bullets to the head."
"That language has no place in our discourse – and I am so remorseful for what happened," Jones later said in a public apology.
The Democratic victories in New Jersey completed the trifecta. U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican Jack Ciattarelli to keep the Governor's Mansion blue.
On CBN News' election night coverage, Nathan Gonzales of Inside Elections said the Democratic victories serve as a potential canary in the coal mine for Republicans going into the midterms.
"But these are states where President Trump improved his margins – and the question I've had… is, how will Republicans do when President Trump is not on the ballot? And so far, that answer is, not particularly well," Gonzales said.
The midterms will be affected by California voters approving Proposition 50, allowing the legislature to redraw congressional maps ahead of the 2030 census. The move is in response to GOP gerrymandering in Texas and could shift up to five California House seats to Democrats.
Exit polls from ABC News show nearly 7-in-10 voters said the country is on the wrong track. Inflation and the high cost of living topped their list of concerns.
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