One year after Donald Trump retook the White House, the president and his agenda loomed large in the first general election of his second term. Voters in more than half the states weighed in on key local and state issues, as well as public officials to serve them.
What to know
- Zohran Mamdani will be the next mayor of New York City, the NBC News Decision Desk projects. The self-described democratic socialist defeated independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa.
- In Virginia, former Rep. Abigail Spanberger will win the race for governor, the NBC News Decision Desk projects, becoming the first woman elected to lead the commonwealth. She defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears.
- In New Jersey, the NBC News Decision Desk projects Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill will prevail over Republican Jack Ciattarelli in a hard-fought gubernatorial race.
- Californians voted to pass a ballot measure that could flip five GOP-held House seats, a key Democratic response to GOP redistricting pushes in several states ahead of the 2026 midterms.
- And Trump was active on social media, continuing his attacks on Mamdani, blasting the California redistricting proposal and arguing that the Republican losses were not about him.
Voters give Democrats a big night — and a warning about next year
Democrats have comprehensively come out on top in Tuesday’s elections, the first real electoral test since Trump reclaimed the White House.
Voters in Virginia and New Jersey are sending Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill to their respective governor’s mansion. Spanberger will become Virginia’s first woman to serve as governor and flip the office to Democratic control.
In New York City, self-proclaimed democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani secured victory in the city’s closely watched mayoral race.
And in California, voters signed off on Proposition 50, which will let Democrats work around the state’s independent redistricting commission to redraw the congressional map in the state with the most U.S. House seats.
The series of high-profile wins will give Democrats momentum going into next year’s midterms, but it wasn’t all good news for the party currently out of power in Congress and the White House. Democrats still have to wrestle with some mixed messages from Tuesday’s results.
In a race heavy with symbolism, Mamdani beat former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo — once a standard-bearer for mainstream Democrats — a second time, after topping him in the primary. Mamdani won with a progressive platform, inspiring new voters to head to the polls.
Spanberger and Sherrill, on the other hand, drifted more to the middle and attracted a wider coalition of supporters.
As Democrats look ahead to 2026, they will also have to reckon with their unpopularity. NBC News exit polls showed that voters in Virginia, New Jersey and California had more unfavorable views of the party than favorable.
As for Republicans, while the president and his party have mainly focused on crime and immigration, voters across the board expressed wide dissatisfaction with the economy, according to NBC News’ exit polling.
Voters in Virginia, New Jersey, California and New York City all said economic issues were top of mind going into Tuesday’s election. If that trend continues, it could spell trouble for Trump going into next year’s midterms.
Mamdani in his victory speech: ‘Today we usher in a generation of change’
Mamdani took the stage in Brooklyn to speak to voters for the first time since claiming the title of New York City’s next mayor — and the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor.
He welcomed the controversies of his campaign, telling the crowd that he will not apologize for the stir his candidacy has caused across the nation.
“I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. I refuse to apologize for any of this,” he said.
More than 2 million votes were cast in the New York City election, a number that hasn’t been reached since the early 1990s. The mayor-elect thanked the young voters who have come to define the surge in his campaign.
“Thank you to the next generation of New Yorkers who refuse to accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the past; you showed that when politics speaks to you without condescension, we can usher in a new era of leadership,” Mamdani said.
He went on to celebrate the diversity of his base, pledging to stay committed to fighting both antisemitism and Islamophobia.
“We will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism, where the more than 1 million Muslims know that they belong,” Mamdani said.
He seemed to take a dig at Cuomo, his opponent, telling the crowd: “No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election.”
Mamdani left the stage with a message to the Democratic base: “We will leave mediocrity in our past. No longer will we have to open a history book for proof that Democrats can dare to be great.”
Schumer congratulates Mamdani on a ‘well-earned’ victory
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who repeatedly declined to endorse Mamdani, is now congratulating the New York City mayor-elect “on his well-earned and historic victory.”
In a statement, the New York Democrat said he had worked “collaboratively and productively” with Mamdani in the past, adding: “I look forward to building on that partnership to keep New York City strong, fair, more affordable, and thriving.”
The statement came just hours after Schumer, a 74-year-old Brooklynite and the highest-ranking elected Jewish leader in the U.S. government, would not say whether he voted for Mamdani, a 34-year-old Muslim democratic socialist and frequent critic of Israel, or Cuomo, the former New York governor who ran as an independent.
In the statement, Schumer also noted that Mamdani “relentlessly focused on the cost-of-living crisis, that Donald Trump has only made worse.” Schumer and Democrats are expected to make affordability a central tenet of their campaign messaging ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Cuomo congratulates Mamdani, defends his own campaign
Cuomo took the stage tonight at his election watch party in Midtown Manhattan, congratulating Mamdani on his victory in the New York City mayoral race and defending the merits of his own campaign despite falling short of victory.
“Congratulations to Zohran Mamdani,” the former New York governor said to the crowd. When his supporters broke out in boos, he urged them to stop.
“No, no, no,” Cuomo said. “That is not right, and that is not us. Tonight was their night.”
Cuomo did, however, make some veiled swipes at the Democratic socialist’s policy positions on the economy and public safety.
“It’s also important to note that almost half of New Yorkers did not vote to support a government agenda that makes promises that we know cannot be met,” Cuomo said.
“We support an economy of jobs, of opportunity, of entrepreneurship. That’s what New York is, and that’s what New York must remain. We are a nation of laws, and we believe in law and order, and we need the police to keep society safe. We will not make the NYPD the enemy. We cherish our diversity. And we have no tolerance for discrimination of any kind by race, religion, sexual orientation or creed, and we will not tolerate any behavior that fans the flames of antisemitism.”
“Our strength is our unity,” he added. “Black, white, brown, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, we are one. We are the family of New York. We believe in interconnection and mutuality and codependence. And you attack one of us, you attack all of us. That is what it means to be a New Yorker. No one and nothing will ever divide us.”
Cuomo continued, saying: “This campaign was necessary to make that point. A caution flag that we are heading down a dangerous, dangerous road. Well, we made that point, and they heard us, and we will hold them to it.”
California gives Newsom and Dems the go-ahead on redistricting
Californians have signed off on Gov. Newsom’s redistricting counterpunch aimed at offsetting a mid-decade push in Texas to gerrymander congressional maps.
The state resoundingly passed Proposition 50 on Tuesday, according to NBC News Decision Desk projections. The measure will allow Democrats to bypass the state’s independent redistricting commission and potentially take five U.S. House seats from the GOP.
The move was a direct response to the Texas Legislature’s abrupt redrawing of that state’s maps to benefit Republicans.
Read more about the California measure and the “redistricting wars” here.
California’s Proposition 50 is projected to pass
The NBC News Decision Desk is projecting that California’s Proposition 50 will pass.
Ocasio-Cortez on election results: ‘We will not be intimidated’
There’s a clear takeaway from tonight’s slate of Democratic victories, according to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: A year after Trump’s presidential win, Democrats are unbowed.
“Americans everywhere are not going to be scared,” the New York Democrat told MSNBC’s Antonia Hylton. “We will not be intimidated by an administration that is violating the rights and making life hard and unaffordable for every single American in this country. And we will send in a wave of Democrats that will not bow to this administration, but stand up to this administration.”
Speaking at Mamdani’s mayoral victory party in Brooklyn — a campaign she cast as a “heroic effort” — Ocasio-Cortez spoke of the 34-year-old’s win as the arrival of a new generation of leadership that is sweeping away the status quo in both parties.
“They were not just tasked with defeating a Republican,” Ocasio-Cortez told MSNBC. “They were also tasked with defeating the old guard of the Democratic Party that essentially led us to many of the perils of this moment. So he had a two-front war to win, which is what makes his victory so deeply impressive.”
But she doesn’t see Mamdani’s approach as a one-size-fits-all answer to electoral success. Looking to Sherrill’s win in New Jersey and Spanberger’s victory in Virginia, Ocasio-Cortez said Democrats should unite behind both progressive voices and moderate voices.
“We have a future to fight for, and we’re either going to do that together or you’re going to be left behind,” she said. “And I think that that is not a partisan issue. It’s not about progressive, it’s not moderate, it’s not liberal. This is about do you understand the assignment of fighting fascism right now? And the assignment is to come together across differences, no matter what.”
Trump on election losses: It wasn’t about me
As results poured in showing Democrats had swept marquee elections in New York, New Jersey and Virginia, President Trump took to his online platform Truth Social on Tuesday night to explain Republicans’ losses and deflect blame.
“‘TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,’ according to Pollsters,” Trump posted.
The president also managed to find a bright spot among the major defeats, posting about a recent interview and what he said were record ratings.
“JUST OUT: The 60 Minutes interview of Donald J. Trump, on CBS, Sunday night, was the highest rated 60 Minutes IN YEARS!”
Democratic leaders celebrate wins, with an eye toward 2026
The top two Democrats on Capitol Hill — Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. — are taking a victory lap as their party racks up a series of electoral wins tonight.
Jeffries went so far as to declare on social media: “Enough with the premature obituaries. The Democratic Party is back.”
In a statement, Schumer called the results a “repudiation of the Trump agenda.”
“The cruelty, chaos, and greed that define MAGA radicalism and are skyrocketing costs were firmly rejected by the American people,” the Senate minority leader continued. (Notably, one of those victories was by Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who will be the next mayor of New York City. Schumer never endorsed him and declined to say whether he voted for him. Jeffries did endorse Mamdani — but it was not exactly full-throated, and came only the day before early voting began.)
Since Trump retook the White House a year ago, Jeffries and Schumer have been grappling with how to win back power in their respective chambers on Capitol Hill. Both have coalesced around a message on affordability, seeing it as a way for them to reverse their electoral fortunes — it’s the economy, stupid, if you will.
Tonight seemed to offer an early sign that this might be a decent bet: The marquee Democratic nominees in New York City, New Jersey and Virginia all made affordability a central tenet of their winning campaigns.
In his statement, Schumer hit repeatedly on affordability, writing that it “was a good night for working families who’ve struggled with endlessly rising costs and felt unheard for far too long. Tonight, their voices were heard loud and clear.”
I expect to hear a lot more of that heading into next year’s midterms.
Want more evidence? Look at how both leaders have been framing their shutdown fight around fighting skyrocketing health care costs.
Analysis: What Mamdani learned from Trump voters
Chris Hayes speaking on MSNBC moments ago:
At the start of his campaign for mayor, Mamdani had essentially zero name recognition. He was 1% in the polls.
The thing that lifted him out of obscurity was that he went to two districts that had swung heavily for Trump, working-class districts with voters of color; one in the Bronx — right by Fordham Road, which I know well — and one in Queens, where he talked to people about why they had voted the way they had. He held a sign that read “Let’s Talk Election,” and just spoke to people.
His focus on winning back voters the Democratic Party lost to Trump was actually where his campaign started. And the reason that many voters in New York City had swung toward Trump was affordability. People felt that they couldn’t afford things.
Out of that, Mamdani engineered a campaign from nowhere to victory.
I live in New York. I grew up in New York. I’ve covered New York. I know New York politics well.
Before this election, I vaguely knew there was a young, socialist assemblyman named Zohran Mamdani, and I’m as plugged in as they come. And now, in an incredible turn of events, that man is going to be the next mayor of New York City.
These comments have been slightly edited for length and clarity.