Democrats win big on Election Night in key races

Published Tue, Nov 4 2025
Dan Mangan

Key Points

• Democrats who won included Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim and self-described democratic socialist who will become the next mayor of New York City.
• In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill is projected to become the next governor, and in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger will become the state’s first female governor.
• California voters passed Prop 50, a measure that allows a new map for U.S. House districts that favors Democrats.
• In Pennsylvania, voters kept three incumbent Democrats on the state Supreme Court, preserving their party’s 5-2 majority.

Democrats made a clean sweep in the three biggest contested elections in the United States on Tuesday night.

The winners include Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim and self-described democratic socialist who will become the next mayor of New York City, according to NBC News projections.

In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill is projected to become the next governor.

And in Virginia, Abigail Spanberger will become the state’s first female governor, and her fellow Democrat Jay Jones will defeat incumbent Republican Attorney General Jason Miyares, NBC News projected.

In California, voters approved Proposition 50, a constitutional amendment allowing the state to use a new map for U.S. House districts that favors Democrats.

In Pennsylvania, voters kept three incumbent Democrats on the state Supreme Court, preserving their party’s 5-2 majority, NBC News projected.

Even before all of the races were called, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, touted their outcomes as a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump, a Republican.

Trump, in a social media post, said that unnamed “pollsters” concluded that the reason Republicans lost on Tuesday was because he was not on the ballots, and because of the ongoing federal government shutdown, which began on Oct. 1.

Schumer, who refused to endorse Mamdani before Election Day, in a statement, said, “Tonight’s results are 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,” Schumer said.

Schumer said it was “a good night for Democrats and our fight to lower costs, improve healthcare, and reach a better future for American families.”

“If Republicans want to keep blindly following Donald Trump into the abyss of chaos, let them,” Schumer said. “The rest of America is moving forward.”

Jones, the projected winner of the Virginia attorney general’s race, unlike the other Democrats who won big was not seen as a betting favorite going into the night.

Jones’ fate in the race looked at serious risk in October after the disclosure of text messages he sent in 2022 that showed him fantasizing about shooting then-state House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican.