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Although 2025 may be an off-year election cycle, a handful of high-profile votes on Tuesday could have an outsize impact on next year’s fight for control of the U.S. House and Senate.
Crucial elections are being held across the country for a variety of seats and propositions. One way or another, the outcomes will be historic.
When will we know the results? It depends.
New York City
The nation’s largest city will elect its next mayor in a race with ramifications for the direction of the Democratic Party.
The three main candidates are state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani, the party nominee and a self-described Democratic socialist; former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who lost the Democratic primary and is running as an independent; and Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa.
Polls close at 9 p.m. Eastern time.
The city reports vote totals relatively quickly, so a winner could be declared as soon as polls close, and we’ll likely know the result within a couple of hours.
New Jersey
New Jersey’s race for governor may be the closest and most closely watched of Tuesday’s big-ticket elections. Democratic U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill faces off against businessman and former state lawmaker Jack Ciattarelli, the heavily Trump-backed GOP nominee.
Polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern, and like New York, returns may start to come in quickly.
But if it’s close, don’t hold your breath.
Race calls from news organizations and other third parties depend on a variety of factors beyond the latest vote totals, including expected turnout, uncounted ballots and the results of past elections. That can make it tough to call a tight race quickly.
And official results will take a lot longer.
New Jersey accepts mail-in ballots (postmarked by Election Day) as late as six days postelection, meaning that official results will not come until much later.
County officials meet 15 days after the election (on Nov. 19) to canvass local election results and must send results to the state by Nov. 20.
The state has until Dec. 4. to certify the results.
Virginia
Virginia will usher in a new governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and all 100 seats in the House of Delegates.
The top of of the ticket sees Democratic U.S. Rep. Abigail Spanberger taking on Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican nominee. One of them will be the commonwealth’s first female governor.
Polls close at 7 p.m. Eastern, and this one could go quickly. Last year, news organizations called the results of the presidential vote in Virginia within minutes.
California
In a special election called by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Californians will vote on a ballot proposition that would temporarily strip their independent redistricting commission of power in favor of a constitutional amendment to allow the Legislature to employ new maps for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 election cycles.
Newsom called this special election to push back against Texas Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting effort, which will likely give their party an advantage in the 2026 midterms. But unlike in Texas, California cannot create a new congressional map without initial voter approval.
Polls close at 11 p.m. Eastern, and despite the nation’s most populous state historically taking a long time to count all those votes — sometimes weeks — poll watchers expect to know the outcome this time before the night is out.
Results will be available in real time as soon as the polls close on the California Secretary of State’s Election Results website and will be updated throughout election night.