Democrats dominate as economic woes take a toll on Trump's GOP. Takeaways from Election Day 2025

Trump was largely absent from the campaign trail, but the GOP candidates closely aligned themselves with the president, betting that his big win last year could provide a path to victory this time, even if the party occupying the White House typically suffers in off-year elections.

They were wrong.

Democrats are hopeful that strong showings could provide the party a pathway back to national relevance — even if its top candidates have taken very different approaches, from adhering to a moderate line to wholeheartedly embracing government spending to improve voters' lives.

In New York City, a self-described democratic socialist who already has been a target of Trump’s criticism could emerge as a national star if elected mayor. And California voters will decide whether to redraw the state's House map, as Democrats look to counter a push by Trump to reshape the balance of congressional power.

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 virtually every part of Virginia and New Jersey. Fast-growing suburbs, rural areas and even places with high concentrations of military voters shifted blue, often by wide margins.

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 might appeal 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 pocketbook issues: the economy, jobs and costs of living that have remained stubbornly high. 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, even if their own personal finances were stable.

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.

Democrats in Congress are demanding an extension of expiring tax credits that have helped millions of people afford health insurance, while Republicans have refused to negotiate until the government is reopened. Voters across the country said the cost of health care was important, but generally not as much as core economic concerns.

A referendum on Trump

This was the first major election day since Trump returned to the White House. And voters rejected candidates aligned with Trump’s Republican Party from Virginia to Pennsylvania to New Jersey.

They also expressed strong feelings about the direction of the country under his leadership.

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.”

About half of California voters described themselves as “angry” about the direction of the country, with another 2 in 10 saying they were “dissatisfied.”

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’s governor's race 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 did not mention Earle-Sears, speaking mostly in favor of the GOP candidate for attorney general.

Earle-Sears was nonetheless a fierce defender of Trump, just as Ciattarelli was in New Jersey.

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 contests. And the Republicans in each refused to distance themselves from the president or his agenda.

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.

Mamdani defeated former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who was running as an independent and actually earned Trump’s endorsement on the eve of the election.

And while many progressives are thrilled, some Republicans in Washington were quietly rooting for a Mamdani victory. Even before his victory 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 and New Jersey.

In Pennsylvania, Democrats swept all three elections for state supreme court justices. The positions 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.

While the elections were technically nonpartisan, spending climbed to around $15 million in an indication of how important they were to Democrats and Republicans nationally.

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.

And in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom, frequently mentioned as a 2028 presidential hopeful, is leading a 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, voters will first have to approve a yes-or-no ballot question known as Proposition 50.