Zohran Mamdani wins New York mayoral race

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Zohran Mamdani has won the mayoralty of New York City, promising an expansive agenda of universal childcare and city-owned grocery stores, and offering a potential leftist path for the opposition to U.S. President Donald Trump.

A 34-year-old immigrant, state legislator and self-described socialist, Mr. Mamdani ran an insurgent, populist campaign fuelled by viral videos that took him from a virtual unknown to control over the country’s largest city.

He received roughly 50 per cent of the vote to 42 per cent for Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who ran as an independent after Mr. Mamdani defeated him in the Democratic primary in June, and 7 per cent for Republican Curtis Sliwa.

His administration will be a test of whether a sweeping, unapologetically leftist policy program – he is also promising more affordable housing, a rent freeze, free public buses and higher taxes on the rich – can be implemented in the U.S.

The triumph of Mr. Mamdani, who will also be the city’s first Muslim mayor, was the highest-profile of a string of Democratic victories at the state and local level on Tuesday. These were the first serious electoral tests for the country since Mr. Trump returned to the presidency a year ago.

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Besides their potential as referenda on the President’s agenda, they could set the tone for the Democrats as they search for viable ways to oppose him.

“For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands,” Mr. Mamdani told cheering supporters in Brooklyn. “Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands.”

He directly addressed part of his speech to Mr. Trump, exhorting the President to “turn the volume up” as he vowed to crack down on slumlords, tax dodgers and bad bosses, all of whom he accused Mr. Trump of being.

“In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light,” Mr. Mamdani said, describing it as “a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.”

Mr. Trump, who has labelled Mr. Mamdani a “communist,” had threatened to cut off federal funding to the city if Mr. Mamdani was elected.

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In Virginia, gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger easily flipped the state back to the Democrats after four years of Republican rule. Representing a blander brand of middle-of-the-road liberalism, the former member of Congress and CIA officer may offer a model for the moderate, big-tent approach to taking on Mr. Trump.

Her victory also opens the door to the possibility that the state will get in on the gerrymandering push kicked off by Mr. Trump. California voters on Tuesday approved a plan by Governor Gavin Newsom’s Democrats to redraw its congressional districts in a bid to gain five more seats next year.

In New Jersey, meanwhile, Democrat Mikie Sherrill – another moderate, and a former Washington roommate of Ms. Spanberger’s – cruised to victory over Republican Jack Ciattarelli, despite high hopes that he could make GOP inroads in the long-blue state.

The Republican losses in both states were by significantly higher margins than Mr. Trump lost the states in the 2024 election,

Mr. Mamdani was born in Uganda to Indian parents. Before entering politics, he was a political organizer and a hip-hop artist, and he worked a job in which he helped people avoid getting evicted from their homes. With a high-voltage grin and an ability to communicate in five languages, he aimed to marry pocketbook cost-of-living concerns with leftist solutions.

Now, he faces a serious test of how much of these can be implemented. His promise to start a publicly owned grocery store in each of the city’s five boroughs to set prices lower than their private competition is particularly unusual in the leading country of global capitalism.

Mr. Mamdani drew the backing of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez – whose political playbook he largely followed – as well as Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and other top progressives.

Moderate Democrats, however, stayed away. Of the party’s two top congressional leaders, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, both also New Yorkers, Mr. Schumer did not endorse Mr. Mamdani and Mr. Jeffries only did so days before the election.

Mr. Trump improbably backed Mr. Cuomo as a bulwark against Mr. Mamdani.

While Mr. Cuomo was a foil to Mr. Trump during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic and initially drew praise for his handling of the crisis, he was later laid low by a scandal over deaths in nursing homes, and accusations of sexual harassment and groping by 11 women, which he denied. He resigned in 2021.

Mr. Mamdani also rode a backlash against incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, a centrist Democrat indicted for allegedly taking bribes from the government of Turkey. Mr. Trump’s Justice Department had the case dropped. Mr. Adams ended his re-election bid and endorsed Mr. Cuomo.

In Virginia, meanwhile, Ms. Spanberger defeated Winsome Earle-Sears, the incumbent Republican lieutenant-governor, by 15 percentage points to become the state’s first female governor. Ms. Earle-Sears was vying to become the first Black woman ever to run a U.S. state.

Ms. Spanberger previously represented a highly competitive congressional district before winning over a state whose governorship regularly flips between the two parties. She replaces Republican Glenn Youngkin.

Her campaign played up bread-and-butter issues such as the cost of living and community safety.

“Tonight, we sent a message,” she said in Richmond, the state capital, flanked by her husband and three daughters. “In 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our Commonwealth over chaos.”

Her party also won the state lieutenant-governor and attorney-general races. In the latter, Democratic nominee Jay Jones appeared to be struggling against Republican incumbent Jason Miyares after violent text messages surfaced in which Mr. Jones fantasized about murdering a Republican legislative leader and his children. But in the end, Mr. Jones won by a comfortable margin.

Local U.S. elections could shape Trump’s opposition – or reaffirm his power

Ms. Spanberger’s victory could allow the Democratic legislature to redraw Virginia’s 11 congressional districts to help the party make gains in next year’s midterm congressional elections.

The competition to gerrymander as many states as possible began when Mr. Trump urged Texas to redraw its districts to help the Republicans win more seats, which the state did. The fight has since spread across the country.

In California, Mr. Newsom asked voters for permission to override an independent commission that draws the state’s congressional map and replace the current district boundaries with new ones that favour Democrats.

New Jersey, for its part, was expected to be close after Mr. Trump posted the best result for a Republican presidential candidate in more than three decades last year. Instead, Mr. Ciattarelli lost by more than 10 per centage points.

Like Ms. Spanberger, Ms. Sherrill campaigned on bread-and-butter topics, such as high electricity bills. A former Navy helicopter pilot and federal prosecutor, Ms. Sherrill is married to Jason Hedberg, global head of equity derivative sales at RBC.

Republicans are certain to parse the election to understand whether the Latino and Black voters among whom Mr. Trump made inroads returned to the Democrats. They will also want to know what issues – whether the persistence of high consumer prices, the President’s immigration raids or the government shutdown – frustrated their hopes of making gains.