Christian Cintron ’28

by Christian Cintron ’28 on November 13, 2025

On Election Day, last Tuesday, Nov. 4, Democrats saw massive victories in several key races across the nation. Democratic wins include State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani being elected mayor of New York City, Representative Abigail Spanberger being elected governor of Virginia, and Representative Mikie Sherrill being elected governor of New Jersey. Notably, none of the mentioned elections were particularly close, with Spanberger and Sherrill defeating opponents by well over 10 percentage points and Mamdani winning a three-way race with a majority of the vote.

Mamdani defeated prolific opponents, former Governor Andrew Cuomo—who ran as an independent—and Republican Curtis Silwa to secure the mayorship, by receiving over one million votes in the election. This comes after Mamdani defeated Cuomo in the Democratic primary in June, with Cuomo opting to run as an independent afterwards. Born in Uganda and elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020, Mamdani was largely unknown before his mayoral campaign. However, he has become a lightning rod of debate due to his progressive politics, which align with the Democratic Socialists of America. His platform is based on affordability and proposing higher taxes on wealthy citizens and corporations in his mission to lower costs and ease life for New Yorkers. At only 34 years old, Mamdani will be the youngest mayor of New York City since 1892, along with the city’s first Muslim and South Asian mayor. Reflecting on nationwide politics in his victory speech, Mamdani states, “In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light.” Preparing to take office in January, Mamdani has appointed a transition team, notably all women, vowing to deliver on campaign promises despite a hostile and challenging political climate.

Spanberger defeated Republican and current Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears in a major win for the Virginia governorship. A former CIA case officer and U.S. Congresswoman from 2019 to 2025, Spanberger was unopposed in the Democratic primary and remained ahead in polling for the entirety of the campaign. Also centering her campaign around affordability, Spanberger also seeks to alleviate concerns regarding the government shutdown in a state containing over 300,000 federal government employees, criticizing Earle-Sears’s socially conservative stances and alignment with President Donald Trump. A moderate candidate and proponent of pragmatism rather than partisan politics, Spanberger’s election marks a party flip in the government, replacing current Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin. Spanberger will be the first female governor of Virginia and has begun work on her transition team, appointing Virginians of various backgrounds and political experience, along with opening applications to be a part of her administration.

Another major win occurred when Sherrill defeated Republican and former New Jersey Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli to become the governor-elect of New Jersey. Sherrill was previously a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Navy, serving on active duty for nine years, and later was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2018, a position she is currently serving in. Sherrill faced a competitive Democratic primary, defeating the likes of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka and Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop to secure her party’s nomination. Her campaign also honed in on affordability and the cost of living, with proposed policies including tax incentives to bring about new housing developments and freezing heightened utility rates. Set to succeed fellow Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, Sherrill holds moderate positions with a hardline stance against Trump, who made inroads in New Jersey among Black and Latino voters in the 2024 presidential election. Sherrill significantly reversed these inroads in the gubernatorial election, bringing monumental swings in largely Black and Latino counties such as Hudson County and Passaic County towards the Democratic column. Sherrill has appointed Lieutenant Governor-elect Dale Caldwell as the chair of her transition team, with political strategist Kellie Doucette serving as executive director, claiming her team to “embody the values of service, integrity, and innovation” that her administration seeks to uphold.

These three crucial victories make the Democratic Party’s future appear promising for several reasons. The 2025 election season is notably an off-season, not coinciding with midterm elections or a presidential election. Despite this, a blue wave phenomenon appears to have occurred, with voters turning out to elect Democratic candidates, a sensation that can likely be tied to dissatisfaction with the Trump administration in the first democratic outlet for voters to express these frustrations since the 2024 election. The victories show a unified front in response to Trump’s policies and party, without much consideration for political ideology. Mamdani aligns with the further left and Democratic Socialism, Spanberger and Sherrill are moderate Democrats, yet all soared to victory in their elections. Therefore, while differences within the Democratic party nationwide were evident as ever, Democratic messaging as a whole proved to be successful. Sherrill weighs in, claiming, “What all these races have in common is there is this desire to make change, that things aren’t working for people.” With all three of these victors centering their campaigns around lowering the cost of living and providing outlines to do so, their campaigns became incredibly attractive to working-class voters, signaling the significant shift in Democratic support experienced by Black and Latino candidates. The Democratic Party will look to channel this momentum for future success as soon as the 2026 midterm elections.