Democrats dominate as economic woes take a toll on Trump's GOP.
Takeaways from Election Day 2025
[November 05, 2025]
By STEVE PEOPLES and WILL WEISSERT
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats dominated the first major Election Day since
President Donald Trump returned to the White House.
And while a debate about the future of the Democratic Party may have
only just begun, there are signs that the economy — specifically,
Trump's inability to deliver the economic turnaround he promised last
fall — may be a real problem for Trump's GOP heading into next year's
higher-stakes midterm elections.
Democrats on Tuesday won governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey,
the only states electing new chief executives this year. They also swept
a trio of state Supreme Court contests in swing-state Pennsylvania and
ballots measures from Colorado to Maine.
Trump was largely absent from the campaign trail, but GOP candidates
closely aligned themselves with the president, betting that his big win
last year could provide a path to victory this time. They were wrong.
Democrats are hoping the off-year romp offers a new winning playbook,
but some caution may be warranted. Tuesday's elections were limited to a
handful of states, most of which lean blue, and the party that holds the
White House typically struggles in off-year elections.
Meanwhile, Republicans in Washington may be more excited than Democrats
that a self-described democratic socialist will become New York City's
next mayor.
Here's some top takeaways:
A new Democratic playbook emerges
Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger will become Virginia's next governor —
and its first female chief executive — while Rep. Mikie Sherrill won the
New Jersey governor's office by running campaigns focused largely on the
economy, public safety and health care.
Early results showed Democrats outperforming their margins from four
years ago in fast-growing suburbs, rural areas and even places with high
concentrations of military voters.
The Democrats won by actively distancing themselves from some of the
Democratic Party’s far-left policies and emphasized what Spanberger
described in her victory speech as “pragmatism over partisanship.”
A growing collection of Democratic leaders believe the moderate approach
holds the key to the party’s revival after the GOP won the White House
and both congressional chambers last year.
Above all, the Democrats in both states focused on rising costs such as
groceries, energy and health care, which Trump has struggled to control.
In addition to tacking to the middle on economic issues, Spanberger and
Sherrill downplayed their support for progressive priorities, including
LGBTQ rights and resistance against Trump’s attack on American
institutions. Spanberger rarely even mentioned Trump’s name on the
campaign trail.
Both also have resumes that appealed to the middle.
Spanberger is a former CIA case officer who spent years abroad working
undercover, while Sherrill spent a decade as an active-duty helicopter
pilot for the Navy before entering Congress. Both played up their public
safety backgrounds as a direct response to the GOP’s attack that
Democrats are soft on crime.
It’s (still) the economy, stupid
Trump and his Republican allies have been especially focused on
immigration, crime and conservative cultural issues.
But voters who decided Tuesday's top elections were more concerned about
the economy, jobs and costs of living. That's according to the AP Voter
Poll, an expansive survey of more than 17,000 voters in New Jersey,
Virginia, California and New York City suggesting that many voters felt
they can’t get ahead financially in today’s economy.
Ironically, the same economic anxieties helped propel Trump to the White
House just one year ago. Now, the economic concerns appear to be
undermining his party's political goals in 2025 — and could be more
problematic for the GOP in next year's midterm elections, which will
decide the balance of power for Trump's final two years in office.
That's even as Trump regularly brags about stock prices booming and
boasted about leading a new renaissance of American manufacturing.
About half of Virginia voters said the economy was the most important
issue facing their state while most New Jersey voters said either taxes
or the economy were the top issue in their state. Just over half of New
York City voters said cost of living was their top concern.
It was unclear whether kitchen table concerns weighing so heavily on
voters might help break the impasse that has prompted the government
shutdown, which has spanned more than a month.
A referendum on Trump
This was the first election since Trump's return to the presidency and
voters rejected candidates and causes aligned with his Republican Party
from Virginia and Pennsylvania to Maine and New Jersey. It was, in fact,
difficult to point to any significant victory for Trump's party.
They also expressed strong feelings about the direction of the country
under his leadership.
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Zohran Mamdani speaks during a victory speech at a mayoral election
night watch party, Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York. (AP
Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
About 6 in 10 voters in Virginia and New Jersey said they are
“angry” or “dissatisfied” with the way things are going in the
country today, according to the AP Voter Poll. Just one-third said
they are “enthusiastic” or “satisfied.”
In a sign of the extent of the GOP's struggles, Republicans lost the
Virginia attorney general's race to Democrat Jay Jones, who was
forced to apologize after text messages surfaced weeks before
Election Day in which he depicted the murder of political opponents.
Fearing a bad night, Trump tried to distance himself from the
election results.
The president endorsed Ciattarelli in New Jersey but held only a
pair of tele-town halls on his behalf, including one Monday night.
Trump also did a Monday night tele-town hall for Virginia Republican
candidates, but he focused mostly in favor of the GOP candidate for
attorney general, who also lost.
Despite Trump's distance, his policies — including his “big,
beautiful” budget bill and his massive cuts to the federal workforce
— played a central role in Virginia, New Jersey and even New York
City's mayoral contest. And the Republicans in each refused to
distance themselves from the president or his agenda.
The results left the president ducking blame.
“TRUMP WASN’T ON THE BALLOT, AND SHUTDOWN, WERE THE TWO REASONS THAT
REPUBLICANS LOST ELECTIONS TONIGHT,” according to pollsters, he
posted on his social media account.
Trump planned to have breakfast Wednesday at the White House with
Senate Republicans who have so far opposed his calls to end the
shutdown by abandoning the legislative filibuster, the 60-vote
minimum needed to pass most major legislation though the Senate.
A new star for Democrats (and Republicans) in New York City
Moderates won in Virginia and New Jersey. But it was a
self-described democratic socialist who cruised to victory in New
York City.
Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old state legislator who backs radical
changes to address economic inequality, will serve as the next mayor
of the nation’s largest city.
His bold agenda and inspirational approach helped generate the
largest turnout in a New York City mayoral race in at least three
decades. It also spooked some business leaders and voices in the
Jewish community, who otherwise support Democrats but oppose some of
Mamdani’s past statements about personal wealth accumulation and
Israel.
Trump, who actually endorsed Mamdani's independent opponent, former
Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, falsely called Mamdani a communist on
the eve of the election.
Some Republicans in Washington were quietly rooting for a Mamdani
victory. Even before his win was final, Republican campaign
committees launched attack ads against more than a dozen vulnerable
House Democrats in New York and New Jersey linking them to Mamdani
and his far-left politics.
The ad campaign is expected to extend to Democrats across the
country ahead of next year’s midterms.
More Democratic wins
The Democratic successes extended beyond Virginia, New Jersey and
New York.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats swept all three elections for state
supreme court justices. The wins could have implications for key
cases involving redistricting and balloting for midterm elections —
and the 2028 presidential race — in the nation's most populous swing
state.
Conservative causes struggled on ballot questions in other states as
well.
Maine voters defeated a measure that would have mandated showing an
ID at the polls while approving a “red flag” rule meant to make it
easier for family members to petition a court to restrict a
potentially dangerous person’s access to guns.
Colorado approved raising taxes on people earning more than $300,000
to fund school meal programs and food assistance for low-income
state residents.
And in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, frequently mentioned as a 2028
presidential hopeful, led a triumphant charge to redraw
congressional maps to give Democrats as many as five more House
seats in upcoming elections.
The push is the centerpiece of a Democratic effort to counter new
Republican maps in Texas and elsewhere that were drawn to boost the
GOP’s chances in next year’s fight to control Congress. For the new
maps to count in 2026, however, Californians had to vote on a
yes-or-no ballot question known as Proposition 50. It was easily
approved.
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