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Democrat New York City mayor candidate and former state assembly member Zohran Mamdani won his race for Mayor on Tuesday, defeating republican candidate Curtis Sliwa and independent candidate and former Governor Andrew Cuomo. "The future is in our hands," Mamdani told supporters as he claimed victory. In his victory speech, he promised the most aggressive affordability agenda since Fiorello La Guardia. Voter turnout surpassed 2 million, the first time that's happened since 1969.
Democrats Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and Mikie Sherrill in New Jersey both won in Tuesday’s elections to be governor of their respective states. Spanberger, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, defeated Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears by a margin of 57.5% to 42.3%, the largest margin for a Democratic candidate in Virginia since 1961. Spanberger will also be her state’s first woman governor. Sherrill, a current member of the U.S. House of Representatives, defeated former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli by a margin of 56.2% to 43.2% to be New Jersey’s second woman governor and the first Democrat to win three consecutive terms since 1961.
Democrat Ghazala Hashmi was elected as the next Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. A state senator who has represented the 15th district, which encompasses the southern neighborhoods of Richmond, since 2020. Defeating Republican John Reid, she flipped the seat vacated by Winsome Earle-Sears, who retired to run for governor, and is the first Muslim American woman to win a statewide election. She will take office alongside Abigail Spanberger on January 17th.
In California, voters passed Proposition 50, which would re-draw the state’s congressional maps for the next three election cycles. This proposition, which has the “Yes” campaign winning 63.8% to 36.2% with 75% of the vote counted, was written to combat the congressional redistricting in Texas two months ago that was designed to flip five U.S. House seats for the Republican Party. By passing this measure, California voters gave permission to the State Legislature to override the independent redistricting commission that normally draws new legislative maps and draw a new map that would flip five U.S. House seats for the Democratic Party.
In Maine, on the statewide ballot, Question 1 asked voters whether they wanted to make changes to election laws, including adding a requirement to show photo identification to vote. This referendum was rejected, making it the only statewide ballot measure to fail in 2025.
In Texas, Props 16 and 17 on the statewide ballot both passed with majority approval. Proposition 16 reinforces that only U.S. citizens can vote in state and local elections — something already in law but now cemented in the Texas Constitution. Proposition 17 will give Texans who live along the southern border a property tax break for building projects on their land if they’re related to border security.
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