Morning Digest: Voters deliver massive wins to Democrats in rejection of Trump and GOP

From coast to coast, Democrats ran up the score—and ran ahead of the polls

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani (credit: Zohran Mamdani Facebook)

Leading Off

Voters nationwide delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump and the Republican Party on Tuesday night as Democrats racked up massive victories at every level of the ballot.

In Virginia, Democrats swept all three statewide contests as former Rep. Abigail Spanberger racked up the largest margin for a Democrat in a race for governor since 1961. Spanberger’s 57-43 win over Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears will make her the first woman to serve as governor in state history.

She’ll be joined by state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, who defeated conservative radio host John Reid 55-45 in the race to replace Earle-Sears. Former state Del. Jay Jones also unseated Attorney General Jason Miyares 53-47 despite a late-breaking scandal regarding text messages in which Jones wished harm on the former House speaker and his children.

The triumph at the top of the ticket also ushered in huge gains in the House of Delegates, where Democrats flipped 13 GOP-held seats to secure a giant 64-36 majority—their largest win since 1987. (In the Senate, which was not up, Democrats hold a 21-19 edge, though a special election will be necessary to fill Hashmi’s seat.)

Meanwhile, in New Jersey, Rep. Mikie Sherrill defied the polls, many of which showed a close race, to defeat former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli by a 56-43 spread. Democrats additionally picked up at least three seats in the Assembly to expand their majority, which stood at 52-28 heading into the election. (The Senate was likewise not on the ballot.)

Democrats also scored major successes in two key swing states that Trump carried last year. In Georgia, they won two special elections for the state’s five-member Public Service Commission in identical 63-37 landslides, giving the party its first victories in a non-federal statewide race since 2006.

In Pennsylvania, three Democratic justices on the state Supreme Court all earned another term with at least 60% of the vote each, preserving Democrats’ 5-2 majority and ensuring that Republicans can’t win back the court before 2029 at the earliest.

Across the country in California, voters resoundingly approved a ballot measure to enact a revamped congressional map aimed at countering new GOP gerrymanders in states like Texas, Missouri, and North Carolina by targeting five Republican-held seats.

And New York City elected Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist, as its next mayor. Mamdani once again defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who opted to run as an independent after losing the Democratic primary in a shocking upset, by a 50-42 margin.

The triumphant night for Democrats did not end here, though. Below you’ll find recaps of other important elections from coast to coast, which saw Democrats win many other races.

Most worrying for Republicans is that Democrats put together a similar string of successes on Election Day in 2017, a year into Trump’s first term. The following year, they flipped 40 seats en route to taking back the House.

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Election Recaps

Florida

Miami, FL Mayor

Democrat Eileen Higgins and Republican Emilio Gonzalez advanced out of the officially nonpartisan 13-person primary and will compete in a Dec. 9 runoff to succeed termed-out Republican Mayor Francis Suarez.

Higgins secured first place with 36%, while Gonzalez only narrowly outpaced Democrat Ken Russell 19-18 for second. Candidates needed a majority to win outright, which was always unlikely to happen in such a huge field.

Miami, FL Ballot

Miami voters approved a ballot measure to establish a Citizens’ Redistricting Committee for City Commission districts that also bans partisan gerrymandering in a 77-23 landslide.

Maine

ME Ballot

Mainers overwhelmingly rejected Question 1, a Republican-backed plan that would have made it harder to vote.

Gun safety advocates, meanwhile, passed Question 2, a “red flag” law that will allow family members and law enforcement to ask a judge to restrict a person’s access to firearms without first requiring a mental health evaluation. Question 2 leads 63-37 with an estimated 79% of the vote tallied, which is similar to Question 1’s margin of defeat.

Michigan

Detroit, MI Mayor

City Council President Mary Sheffield had no trouble defeating pastor Solomon Kinloch, a fellow Democrat, 77-23 in this nonpartisan contest. Sheffield, who will be the first woman elected mayor of Detroit, will succeed retiring incumbent Mike Duggan, a former Democrat who is running for governor next year as an independent.

Detroit, MI City Council

Progressive organizer Denzel Anton McCampbell defeated state Rep. Karen Whitsett, a Democrat who has frequently thwarted her party’s priorities in the legislature, 59-41 in a battle for the City Council’s open 7th District. Whitsett will remain in the state House, though Democrats are sure to look at opposing her for renomination next year.

Minnesota

Minneapolis, MN Mayor

Election officials will conduct ranked-choice tabulations today to determine whether Mayor Jacob Frey, who took 42% of first-choice votes, will secure a third term.

State Sen. Omar Fateh, who identifies as a democratic socialist, is in second with 32% of the vote in this nonpartisan race. (Both Frey and Fateh are Democrats.) DeWayne Davis and Jazz Hampton, who formed a “rank all three” alliance with Fateh, are at 14% and 10%, respectively.

St. Paul, MN Mayor

State Rep. Kaohly Her unseated incumbent Melvin Carter, a fellow Democrat and her former boss, after election officials conducted ranked-choice tabulations on Tuesday night. Her, who will be the first Hmong American to lead St. Paul, successfully argued that city government was unresponsive and that change was needed.

Carter initially led Her 41-39 among first-choice preferences, with the balance split between three other candidates. Her, though, surged ahead to win 51-49 following the second and final round of counting.

Mississippi

MS State Senate & State House

Mississippi Democrats flipped three legislative districts—two in the Senate and one in the House—that were redrawn following a lawsuit that successfully argued the maps discriminated against Black voters. The Democratic victories in the upper chamber also deprived the GOP of its supermajority.

While these wins still leave Republicans in firm control of state government, Tuesday’s elections will indeed boost African American representation, as all three Democratic winners are Black.

New Hampshire

NH State House

Republicans appear to have pulled off a rare win in a competitive special election by narrowly holding the 5th House District in Coös County. Republican Marc Tremblay holds a 50.4 to 49.6 edge over Democrat Corinne Cascadden—a margin of 13 votes. The conservative New Hampshire Journal anticipates that a recount will take place.

The district voted for Trump 52-48 last year after supporting Biden by a 53-46 margin in 2020. The GOP holds a 218-177 advantage in the state House, a 400-member chamber that Democrats are looking to flip next year.

New Jersey

Jersey City, NJ Mayor

Former Gov. Jim McGreevey advanced to the widely anticipated Dec. 2 runoff for mayor, but the well-known and well-funded candidate wasn’t the top vote-getter in the nonpartisan primary.

City Council member James Solomon secured first with 29%, while McGreevey, who resigned as governor in spectacular fashion in 2004, edged out Hudson County Commissioner Bill O’Dea 25-22 for second. All three are Democrats, as is outgoing Mayor Steven Fulop.

New Mexico

Albuquerque, NM Mayor

Democratic Mayor Tim Keller and Republican Darren White will face off in a runoff next month after Keller failed to win the majority needed to win outright. Keller secured 37% of the vote in the nonpartisan primary, while White, who is a former Bernalillo County sheriff, beat out Democrat Alexander Uballez 31-18.

New York

New York, NY Ballot

New York City voters approved a trio of amendments to the city charter that supporters argue will speed the creation of affordable housing, with the “yes” side winning over 56% of the vote in each contest. However, they rejected a measure to move local elections to even-numbered years—which would have also required a statewide constitutional amendment to take effect—by a 53-47 spread.

NY State Assembly

Democrat Michael Cashman held a competitive vacant seat for his party by defeating Republican Brent Davison 54-46. Trump carried the 115th District, which is located along the Canadian border, 50-49, four years after Biden racked up a 52-46 margin.

Nassau County, NY

In another rare bright spot for the GOP, Republican incumbents turned back the Democrats’ attempts to flip all four countywide posts in Nassau County, a populous Long Island community that has swung hard to the right over the last four years.

Executive Bruce Blakeman fended off Democrat Seth Koslow 54-46, while District Attorney Anne Donnelly won reelection by a larger 55-45 spread against Democrat Nicole Aloise. (News12 estimates that about three-quarters of the vote is reporting, so these margins may change even though the outcomes are not in doubt.) GOP incumbents also defended the offices of comptroller and clerk.

Democrats do appear to have flipped a seat in the county legislature, but Republicans will retain their majority.

Ohio

Cincinnati, OH Mayor

Democratic Mayor Aftab Pureval scored a blowout 78-22 victory in this nonpartisan race over Republican Cory Bowman, whose sole claim to fame was being the half-brother of JD Vance.

Pennsylvania

Bucks County, PA

Democrats in swingy Bucks County appear to have unseated Republicans in all five “row offices”—district attorney, sheriff, controller, recorder of deeds, and prothonotary—four years after the GOP ticket scored a sweep.

Erie County, PA Executive

Democrat Christina Vogel unseated Republican incumbent Brenton Davis in a 62-38 landslide in the race to lead Erie County, which has long been a key political bellwether in this perennial swing state.

Lehigh County, PA Executive

Democrat Josh Siegel defeated Republican Roger MacLean 61-39 to become the executive of Lehigh County, which narrowly voted for Kamala Harris after favoring Joe Biden by a stronger margin. Siegel will succeed termed-out Democratic incumbent Phil Armstrong.

Northampton County, PA Executive

County Controller Tara Zrinski beat Republican Tom Giovanni 59-41 in Northampton County, a community that has swung back and forth between the parties in recent presidential elections. Zrinski will replace outgoing Executive Lamont McClure, a fellow Democrat who is running for Congress.

Philadelphia, PA District Attorney

Democratic incumbent Larry Krasner scored a 76-24 win over Republican Pat Dugan, who had unsuccessfully challenged Krasner from the right in the May Democratic primary but then ran in the general election on the GOP line.

Texas

TX-18

Democrats Christian Menefee and Amanda Edwards have secured the two spots in a runoff for the vacant 18th District, which will probably take place in January or February.

Menefee, who serves as Harris County attorney, leads with 29%; Edwards, who is a former member of the Houston City Council, beat out Democratic state Rep. Jolanda Jones 26-18 for second. (The Associated Press estimates that 78% of the vote has been counted.)

The eventual winner will likely face Rep. Al Green, who has signaled that he’ll run for the new version of the 18th District now that Republicans have gerrymandered his 9th District, in the March primary for a full two-year term.

TX Ballot

Voters have approved all 17 of the amendments the GOP-dominated legislature placed on the statewide ballot, including a plan to allow Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to appoint a majority of the members to the State Commission on Judicial Conduct. Proposition 12, which strengthens Abbott’s hold on a body that can discipline or recommend the removal of judges, leads 62-38.

Washington

WA State Senate

Appointed Democratic incumbent Deb Krishnadasan appears to have held off Republican state Rep. Michelle Caldier in an expensive special election. Krishnadasan leads 53-47 with most of the vote counted in the 26th Senate District; Kamala Harris carried this constituency 53-44 last year.

King County, WA Executive

County Councilmember Girmay Zahilay holds a 51-49 edge over Council colleague Claudia Balducci, a fellow Democrat, with about 263,000 votes tabulated in this nonpartisan race. The totals in this and other Washington contests may shift over the ensuing days as more mail-in ballots are counted.

Seattle, WA Mayor

Incumbent Bruce Harrell holds a 54-46 lead over progressive activist Katie Wilson, a fellow Democrat who challenged him from the left, with about 116,000 ballots tabulated. Wilson, though, made large gains after election night in the August top-two primary as more ballots were counted, and she’s hoping for another such shift.

Seattle, WA City Attorney

Former federal prosecutor Erika Evans resoundingly unseated City Attorney Ann Davison, whose 2021 win marked a rare victory for the GOP in this dark-blue city. Evans, a Democrat, leads 63-37 with about 113,000 ballots counted.

Redistricting Roundup

IN Redistricting

Indiana Republicans have abandoned their plans to convene a special session of the legislature this week, instead saying they would push up the start of their regular session, which was set to begin in January, to the first day of December.

Last month, Republican Gov. Mike Braun announced that a special session aimed at further gerrymandering the state’s congressional map would commence on Nov. 3. But some key Republicans, particularly Senate President Pro Tempore Rodric Bray, remain opposed to a redraw.

KS Redistricting

Kansas Republicans announced on Tuesday that they’ve abandoned plans to further gerrymander their state’s congressional map after failing to secure the necessary support of two-thirds of lawmakers to call a special session of the legislature.

Republicans enjoy supermajorities in both chambers but were stymied by holdouts in their own party. The GOP’s failure is a boon to Democratic Rep. Sharice Davids, whose Kansas City-area 3rd District would have been redrawn to make her chances of winning a fifth term much harder if not impossible.

Davids had floated the possibility of running against Republican Sen. Roger Marshall had the GOP gone through with its plan, but now she’s likely to seek reelection and would be the heavy favorite if she does.

MD Redistricting

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore announced the formation of a new redistricting commission on Tuesday, the first affirmative step Democrats have taken toward redrawing the state’s congressional map.

The five-member panel, which is advisory in nature, will conduct hearings and issue recommendations to the governor and lawmakers “to improve our current map and ensure Maryland has fair Congressional maps,” according to a statement from Moore.

It will be chaired by Democratic Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, who attacked Republicans for “trying to rig the rules in response to their terrible polling,” adding, Maryland deserves a fair map that represents the will of the people.” Moore also named former Attorney General Brian Frosh, a Democrat, and Cumberland Mayor Ray Morriss, a Republican, to the commission.

The leaders of both chambers of the Democratic-dominated state legislature will also get to appoint one member each. That includes House Speaker Adrienne Jones, who is supportive of revisiting the map, and Senate President Bill Ferguson, who has advanced a series of specious arguments against a redraw and remains hostile to the idea.

“The Senate Democratic Caucus understands that this is an unbalanced risk reward calculation,” he said in a statement in response to Moore’s announcement. “It is why there is overwhelming concern about Maryland joining the mid-cycle redistricting wars rather than focusing on tangible, immediate policies to protect our State from this lawless Trump Administration.”

It’s not clear what will happen when the commission concludes its work, but Moore is likely pressing forward in an effort to pressure Ferguson and Senate Democrats.

Governors

CA-Gov

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla said on Tuesday that he’s decided not to enter the packed top-two primary for California’s open governorship. Padilla is up for reelection to the Senate in 2028.

House

IL-04

Democratic Rep. Chuy Garcia confirmed Tuesday that he was ending his reelection campaign, a move that puts Patty Garcia, who is the congressman’s chief of staff, on a glide path to succeed him in Illinois’ safely blue 4th District with no primary opposition. The two Garcias are not related.

Illinois

The first candidate filing deadline of the 2026 primary election cycle passed on Monday in Illinois, a full year before the midterms. The state Board of Elections has a list of contenders available on its website.

Not everyone who filed, though, will make it to the March 17 primary ballot. It’s common for candidates in Illinois to challenge their opponents’ petitions to try to get them disqualified. No less a figure than Barack Obama won his first race for the state Senate in 1996 by getting all his primary foes—including incumbent Alice Palmer—thrown off the ballot for a lack of sufficient signatures.

There’s also the possibility that filing could reopen if the legislature’s Democratic majority redraws the congressional map in time for this year’s elections. However, while prominent national figures like House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries are still trying to bring this about, legislative leaders remain unenthusiastic.

TN-07

Even though Democratic polling has shown Republican Matt Van Epps leading in the Dec. 2 special election for Tennessee’s conservative 7th District, the NRCC is stepping in to help their candidate air a new TV ad.

The content of the spot is also notable—so much so that if you didn’t know Van Epps’ party affiliation, you might think it had been created by a Democratic campaign. In the ad, Van Epps touts his military background, then says he’s “on a new mission to bring down prices, create good-paying jobs, and lower health care costs for working families.”

Van Epps, a former member of Gov. Bill Lee’s Cabinet, faces Democratic state Rep. Aftyn Behn in the race to fill the seat previously held by Republican Rep. Mark Green.

Obituaries

Dick Cheney

Dick Cheney died Monday at the age of 84 after a four-decade career in national politics that began when he became a congressional intern in 1969 and concluded when he left the vice presidency in 2009. Cheney’s rise, though, was in danger of faltering in 1978 when he competed in a tough GOP primary for Wyoming’s only U.S. House seat.

Cheney, whose tenure as Gerald Ford’s White House chief of staff ended following Ford’s loss to Jimmy Carter in 1976, campaigned to succeed retiring Rep. Teno Roncalio, whose reelection that year made him the last Democrat to win a federal race in Wyoming.

Cheney’s primary rivals portrayed him as an outsider who had left the state behind to pursue a career in the nation’s capital, while Cheney pushed back by arguing he was a local whose vast connections could serve Wyoming. However, while the future vice president remained the frontrunner despite those brickbats, his standing took a hit when he suffered a heart attack during the race at the age of just 37.

Cheney, however, returned to the campaign trail after a six-week rest and won the nomination 42-31 against state Treasurer Ed Witzenburger. He then turned in a decisive 59-41 victory against Democrat Bill Bagley, who had no more luck than Witzenburger in making the “carpetbagger” label stick.

Cheney, who never again faced a competitive race at home, rose to become House minority whip, but he left Congress in 1989 to become George W.H. Bush’s secretary of defense. Cheney, though, did return to the campaign trail in Wyoming one more time in 2022 to aid his daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney, in her doomed campaign for renomination.