Wednesday, November 5, 2025

One 'big, beautiful' blue wave

Donald Trump's agenda just faced its first test (or, the first of his second presidency) at the ballot box.

And Democrats won. Bigly.

In New York, the most-watched contest of the night, democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani cleanly defeated the disgraced former governor, Andrew Cuomo. As the votes camed in, the 34-year-old appeared on course to win with more than 50 percent of the electorate backing him.

But it was elsewhere around the country where Democrats were up against the MAGA agenda for real — and the results were a landslide.

Candidates for governor won easily in both New Jersey and Virginia. Mikie Sherill and Abigail Spanberger, both moderate Democrats facing Republican challengers, scored commanding victories.

In Virginia, the controversy over Jay Jones's text messages failed to torpedo his campaign, too. Jason Miyares, the incumbent Republican attorney general, lost re-election.

And in Georgia, Democrats flipped two seats in local elections that many are hoping signifies greater rebounds to come next year.

In California, Gov. Gavin Newsom waited anxiously Tuesday evening for the results of his bid to launch a redistricting push, which voters are set to decide via ballot measure. Newsom, probably eyeing the presidency, is hoping to make a splash by helping his party seize back the advantage in the midterm elections.

Across the country, the message is clear: Democrats aren't just enthusiastic about voting, they're downright furious about the current state of things.

Come 2026, that anger could mean big, big things for Washington.

But what will it mean tomorrow, when shutdown negotiations continue between Republicans and a newly-energized Democratic minority?

Follow The Independent's election night coverage here.

By John Bowden

Reading list

Daily briefing

Zohran Mamdani defeats Andrew Cuomo for New York mayor as Democrats count victories

34-year-old DSA member Zohran Mamdani delivered a seismic blow to NYC's deep-rooted power structures with his defeat of Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday. Alex Woodward has the story.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

He loves New York. It is his home. 

Karoline Leavitt spoke to reporters on Tuesday and appeared to forget that the president lived full-time in Florida for the entire four years he was out of office.

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