Some said the wins in largely Democratic states are not surprising, while others said it was a referendum on the Trump administration’s performance.
Democrats won a series of races in predominantly blue states during an off-year election marked by a government shutdown, a Democratic mayoral showdown, and controversial redistricting efforts.
The biggest news was the strong voter turnout that put relative newcomer and progressive Democrat Zohran Mamdani into the mayor’s office in New York City, defeating former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat who ran as an independent.
Here’s the breakdown on Election Day 2025.
Democrats Won Big in Key Races
In Virginia and New Jersey’s gubernatorial races, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill, respectively, prevailed with double-digit margins.
Republicans attempted to lower expectations earlier in the day, as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters, “It won’t be a big surprise if the front-runners, the Democrats, the radicals, win some of these elections.”
“It’s all basically blue states,” Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) told The Epoch Times earlier in the day, disagreeing with the idea that the election was a referendum on President Donald Trump’s performance.
Though Democrats were favored in these races, the margins were significant, according to pollster James Lee.
“Anytime you get to 10 points or more, those are blowouts,” Lee, president of Susquehanna Polling and Research, told The Epoch Times. “And even though they’re Democratic states, both have elected Republicans to statewide office before.”
The outcomes were not unexpected by Aaron Dusso, chair of the Department of Political Science at Indiana University, Indianapolis.
“In Virginia and in New Jersey, the Democrats win when they’re expected to win. This is not surprising,” Dusso told The Epoch Times.
That’s because election results are driven largely by voters’ attitude toward the sitting president, Dusso said, noting that Trump’s approval rating has been in the mid-forties for several weeks.
Voters Concerned About Prices, Affordability
As prices continue trickling upward and inflation stubbornly persists, many voters expressed frustration over rising costs and compounding state taxes.
Mandami, a self-described democratic socialist, made affordability and rising costs central to his New York campaign.
In Virginia, multiple voters told The Epoch Times that affordability was their central concern.
Autumn Lawson, who supported Democratic candidates up and down the ticket, said she wants to see the “over taxation of Virginia stopped” and said state residents are being hit with high taxes on food and vehicles. She described the sales tax as “getting taxed twice.”
Siobhan, another Democratic voter, favors Virginia’s income tax over the sales tax.
Marcelo Lorenzo, who works in the power-generating industry in Virginia and split his ticket this year, told The Epoch Times that the rising number of data centers was concerning him, and he fears the world is growing at a rate that may outpace our control of it.
By Lawrence Wilson and Jacob Burg
