2:45New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani arrives for a a news coference alongside members of his mayoral transition team at Flushing MeadowsCorona Park in New York City, November 5, 2025. Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images
A year prior, Democrats were caught off guard in the political landscape after the 2024 vote.
Donald Trump secured the popular vote in his victorious effort to return to the nation’s capital, disrupting the Democratic alliance and granting Republicans complete command of Congress.
Now, due to triumphs in New Jersey and Virginia, a contest for New York City mayor, and hopefuls who emphasized the condition of the economy, the cost of living and the reaction against Trump, the party might possess the basics of a plan to regain influence in the approaching midterm elections next year.
In Virginia, where prior Democratic congresswoman Abigail Spanberger conquered GOP Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and aided in steering Democrats to success in each of the three statewide races, nearly half of voters expressed the economy was the paramount matter in the commonwealth, according to exit polling.
New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani arrives for a a news coference alongside members of his mayoral transition team at Flushing MeadowsCorona Park in New York City, November 5, 2025.Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images
Despite nearly 6 out of 10 Virginia voters stating Virginia’s economy is either "excellent" or "good," over 8 out of 10 voters said they were either "holding steady" or "falling behind" financially, with the majority of those voters backing Spanberger — who campaigned focusing on affordability and opposing Trump’s economic strategies and reductions to the federal staff that have had an effect on Virginia’s economy and workers within the Washington, D.C., vicinity.
In New Jersey, where Rep. Mikie Sherrill overcame GOP contender Jack Ciattarelli by an analogous margin, the economy and taxes were leading matters for voters, as indicated by exit surveys. Furthermore, approximately half of Garden State voters firmly voiced disapproval of Trump’s conduct in office, a rejection to Republicans who were heartened by New Jersey’s move toward the right last year.
And within New York City, where State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani was victorious in the mayoral election on a platform of holding rent steady for certain New Yorkers, providing complimentary bus transportation, and granting comprehensive child care to New Yorkers, more than half of voters stated the cost of living stood as the most critical matter confronting New York, according to ABC News exit polls.
Two-thirds of those voting citizens favored the 34-year-old self-proclaimed democratic socialist over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
These results materialize as Republicans have forfeited their advantage regarding the topic of the economy: As per a new NBC poll this week, 63 percent of Americans hold the belief that the Trump administration has not met expectations on the economy.
The same survey indicated that voters consider the Democratic and Republican parties on par when it comes to managing the economy, a decline from the GOP’s 20-point edge in 2023, and the slightest party lead for the GOP on this matter in seven years.
To be succinct, Democrats will necessitate more than a joined message focusing on affordability and contesting the Trump administration to sustain forward motion next year: Virginia, New Jersey, and New York are reliably Democratic states that do not necessarily mirror the states and House districts that compose the battlegrounds for supremacy over the House and Senate.
And while voter participation was considerable in the states for an off-year election, no premise about voter turnout and the makeup of the electorate is assured, as Republicans realized Tuesday night.
The standard of next year’s candidates — their focus and capability to communicate — will also factor in. So will Trump’s involvement — and investment — in the midterms that will more directly bear on his eventual achievement in office than the outcomes of Tuesday night.
And also will the nation’s economic condition and the way people perceive it: Any improvements could favor Democrats and boost Trump’s approval if his actions are perceived as contributing to those improvements.
Outcomes will equally be consequential — especially in New York City, where aspects of Mamdani’s suggested agenda have polarized certain communities as greatly as it has energized a more youthful and diverse coalition of New Yorkers.
It’s a truth that the Democrats acknowledged on “Good Morning America” on Wednesday.
“We achieved electoral triumph, and now we need to attain success in governance,” Spanberger conveyed.
“I’m looking forward to demonstrating the potency of an example here in New York City,” Mamdani proclaimed, “an example of what it signifies to not just identify the distress in working people’s lives as the cost-of-living crisis, but to act upon it.”
They similarly recognized the debate within the party about the means of attaining that goal is unresolved.
“Is there a struggle transpiring regarding the future course of the Democratic Party?” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos queried Sherrill on “Good Morning America.”
“I think the struggle will revolve around how to deliver results for people,” she responded.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
