Democrats win in Virginia, New Jersey governor races

Democrats won races for governor in New Jersey and Virginia on Tuesday, and a self-described democratic socialist was elected New York City mayor, while Californians approved a redistricting initiative designed to help Democrats in midterm elections.

New Jersey Governor

In New Jersey, Democratic US Representative Mikie Sherrill, a moderate with military experience first elected to Congress in the 2018 midterm election during President Donald Trump’s first term, bested Republican businessman and former state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli, in a race that focused on affordability issues.

Virginia Governor

In Virginia, Democratic former US Representative Abigail Spanberger was elected as the state’s first female governor.

Spanberger called for pragmatism, pledged to defend her state’s sizeable population of federal workers from targeting by the Trump administration, and listed housing and healthcare affordability as her day-one priorities.

Republican candidate Winsome Earle-Sears, the state’s lieutenant governor, played to her conservative base in the election by questioning Spanberger’s record.

New York city mayor

New York City’s mayoral race is watched closely because the city is the nation’s financial capital and its leaders’ decisions often influence national political discourse, at least for the locally dominant Democratic Party.

Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old, fresh-faced state lawmaker, beat Andrew Cuomo, the state’s former Democratic governor, who ran as an independent.

The election pitted Mamdani’s progressive stances against Cuomo, 67, and his more establishment views, as he tried to make the case for his qualifications over Mamdani’s newfound influence. Both candidates carried political baggage.

Mamdani has faced scrutiny for identifying as a democratic socialist and for past remarks on Israel and the New York Police Department, while Cuomo’s 2021 resignation over sexual harassment allegations clouded his potential return.

California redistricting

A ballot measure in California passed to redraw congressional districts, designed to help Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections.

Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and the state assembly said they pursued the changes, which would essentially erase five Republican-held districts, after President Donald Trump earlier this year encouraged conservative Texas to reconfigure its congressional districts to favor Republican candidates in five Democratic-represented districts.

Is New York’s Mamdani the future of US Democrats?

Trump’s move was an unusual partisan effort to maintain the Republicans’ majority in the US House of Representatives, now at 219-213; redrawing congressional maps usually happens after the national census every decade to adjust for state population changes.