Democrats swept three races Tuesday in the first major election since Donald Trump was re-elected, cementing a new generation of leaders and giving the struggling party a boost ahead of next year's U.S. congressional elections.
In New York, Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, won the mayoral election, capping a meteoric and unexpected rise from an anonymous state lawmaker to one of the most prominent figures in the Democratic Party in the country.
Moderate Democrats, 46-year-old Abigail Spanberger and 53-year-old Mikey Sherrill, won the gubernatorial elections in Virginia and New Jersey by landslides.
“If anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave birth to him. And if there is a way to scare a despot, it is by removing the very conditions that allowed him to amass power,” Mamdani said to a cheering crowd.
"So, Donald Trump, since I know you're watching, I have two words for you: turn up the volume."
Tuesday's election served as a barometer of how Americans are reacting to Trump's tumultuous nine months in office. It was also a test of the Democratic Party's various strategies heading into 2026, as the party remains locked out of power in Washington and struggles to regain political influence.
However, there is still a year left until the midterm elections, which is an eternity in the era of Donald Trump, and polls show that the Democratic Party still enjoys low public trust, even though Trump's support is also declining, writes Reuters.
The most closely watched election races on Tuesday were in Democratic-leaning areas that did not support Trump in the presidential election last year and will have little impact on the upcoming battles for control of Congress.
“I don’t think tonight’s results are a complete picture of what the next election cycle will look like,” said Antwan Seawright, a Democratic strategist from South Carolina. “So I think we need to continue to motivate, inform and mobilize the voters who went out to the polls tonight to make sure they stay on the Democratic side.”
Trump blamed the defeats on his name not being on the ballot, as well as the current federal government shutdown.
Republicans currently hold a 219-213 majority in the House of Representatives and a 53-47 majority in the Senate. To win a Senate majority, Democrats would need to defend seats in hotly contested states like Georgia, Michigan and Minnesota, while also making inroads in Republican strongholds like Florida and North Carolina.
But as Reuters points out, the president's party traditionally loses seats in the House of Representatives in midterm elections. Democrats won a majority in 2018, the first midterm election under Trump, when they gained 41 new seats, giving Spanberger and Sherrill their first-ever entry into Congress. Democrats have used that majority to oversee the Trump administration and have twice voted to impeach him.
“I think it’s much more important that moderate candidates won in large states that often elect Republican governors than that a far-left candidate won in New York,” said Matt Bennett, vice president of Third Way, a centrist Democratic think tank.
The Guardian writes that political history shows that Democrats often misinterpret success.
The paper recalls that in 2022, when they narrowly lost their majority in the House of Representatives but performed better than expected, Democrats interpreted it as a sign that everything was fine with the status quo. Instead of challenging Joe Biden, they allowed him to run for a second term as president, and they paid the price for it.
“Democrats would be wise not to exaggerate the significance of Tuesday’s victory. A party that is out of power usually remobilizes and gains energy. Trump has lost three times in New Jersey and Virginia. In New York, Mamdani could not have asked for a more suitable opponent than the scandal-ridden Andrew Cuomo,” the Guardian reports. It points out that the party’s reputation continues to decline, despite its strong performance in special elections throughout the year.
The party's approval ratings fell to their lowest level in 30 years in July. A poll conducted last week by The Washington Post, ABC News and Ipsos found that 68 percent of Americans believe Democrats have lost touch with reality, more than the 63 percent who feel the same about Trump.
"These are mixed signals for the Democratic Party, which is still searching for a path back to the political scene. Did the 2024 election represent a tectonic shift that requires a complete renewal of the party, or just a narrow defeat for a flawed candidate who had only 107 days to campaign? Do Democrats need to build everything from scratch, or just breathe new life into the existing model?" the Guardian's analysis states, adding that Tuesday's election alone is not enough to solve this puzzle.
California vote a boost for Democrats
Reuters reports that the most significant victory for Democrats in the battle for control of the House of Representatives came in California, where voters approved a measure that would allow state lawmakers to adopt a new congressional map, potentially giving the Democratic Party as many as five new seats. The move offset a similar move in Texas, which was carried out in favor of Republicans, as part of a broader national battle over redistricting.
The candidates who won Tuesday could reenergize and inspire greater engagement among Democratic voters, many of whom have long sought new faces at the helm of the party. Turnout in the New York mayoral election was the highest since at least 1969.
All three Democratic candidates have emphasized economic issues, particularly the cost of living, which remains a top priority for most voters. However, Spanberger and Sherrill come from the party's moderate wing, while Mamdani, relying on a campaign fueled by viral videos, has presented himself as an outspoken progressive modeled after Senator Bernie Sanders and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Mamdani, who will become the first Muslim mayor of America's largest city, edged out former Democratic Governor Cuomo, 67, who ran as an independent after losing the party's nomination to Mamdani earlier this year. Cuomo, who resigned as governor four years ago amid allegations of sexual harassment that he denies, had portrayed Mamdani as a radical leftist whose proposals were unworkable and dangerous.
For Republicans, this election represents an early warning sign that the party may face difficulties in mobilizing a Trump coalition when he himself is not the candidate.
Mamdani has called for tax increases for corporations and the wealthy to fund ambitious left-wing policies such as rent freezes, free childcare and free city bus transportation. Wall Street executives have expressed concern about the idea of a democratic socialist taking over the financial capital of the world.
Republicans have already signaled their intention to present Mamdani as the new face of the Democratic Party. Trump has falsely labeled Mamdani a “communist” and promised to cut funding to the city in response to his rise to power.
In a social media post on Tuesday evening, Trump blamed his election defeats on his name not being on the ballot, as well as the current federal government shutdown.
For Republicans, as Reuters points out, these elections represent an early warning sign that the party may face difficulties in mobilizing a Trump coalition when he himself is not the candidate.
Vice President J.D. Vance acknowledged the problem in a social media post yesterday, saying Republicans need to do a better job of motivating those less reliable voters who supported Trump in the 2024 election.
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