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New Yorkers celebrate as local news projects Zohran Mamdani winner of the mayoral election on Tuesday. Democrat Mamdani, a 34-year-old Muslim, defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo, who was running as an independent.Jeremy Weine/Getty Images
Maybe too much shouldn’t be read into off-year election results south of the border. But Democrats can be forgiven for being very much enthused – and so can Canadians.
In its first big political test since being elected last November, the Trump Party took a trouncing Tuesday. The Trump name wasn’t on the ballots, but the campaigns in good part were a referendum on the mad king’s work.
Democrats won governorships in New Jersey and Virginia by unexpectedly high margins. The Democratic candidate in New York, Zohran Mamdani, denounced as a communist by Mr. Trump, romped into the mayor’s office. In California, voters overwhelmingly passed Proposition 50, giving the Democratic Governor the right to gerrymander seats to nicely boost the party’s chances of winning five more in next year’s midterm elections.
Konrad Yakabuski: Can Zohran Mamdani save the Democrats?
The biggest issue in the races, exit polls showed, was cost of living, and the results were widely interpreted as a stern rebuke to Mr. Trump’s tariffs on Canada and other countries, which have contributed to keeping prices at American counters high.
The outcomes will increase pressure on Mr. Trump to ease off on the tariffs, which are currently facing a survival test in the U.S. Supreme Court. A court decision denying him the authority to proceed with the levies could give him an off-ramp to halt them. He’s said he will deploy other legal justifications for keeping them going, and may well do that. But with midterm elections a year away, he will likely face sustained pressure to alter course.
While there’s been frustration in Canada that Ottawa has not been able to reach a deal with Mr. Trump, it may well be that the failure has been a good thing. Given how the tides are turning against him, the delays could result in a better deal.
Democrats make gains in U.S. state and local elections in sharp rebuke of Trump’s Republicans
In the broader context, the election results Tuesday give the Democrats a sign of resurgence they sorely need. They’ve been browbeaten for months in the media for faltering in the face of the Trump onslaught. But that perception will now change.
Mr. Trump won in 2024 in large part because sizeable shares of Latino, Black and other minority voters moved toward the GOP. Some saw it as a vibe-shift. On Tuesday, signs were those voters were returning to the Democratic fold.
The view from this Pennsylvania county a year after its voters helped bring Trump to power
In New York, Mr. Mamdani, a 34-year-old Muslim, defeated former governor Andrew Cuomo. He mobilized youth and minorities with an unapologetic leftist platform. “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. “Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands.”
In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger became the state’s first female governor, winning by a double-digit margin, a feat not seen in a Virginia gubernatorial race for a Democratic candidate in decades.
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Mamdani, a self-described democratic socialist, won on a leftist platform that mobilized youth and minorities.Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
In New Jersey, it was Representative Mikie Sherrill also winning the governorship by a surprisingly high double-digit margin. She made her opposition to Mr. Trump the driving force of her campaign. “If you get a flat tire on the way home today, it’s President Trump’s fault. There’s nothing this woman won’t blame on President Trump,” her opponent Jack Ciattarelli said. But it worked. Mr. Ciattarelli tried to turn his Trump endorsement into a plus, but failed dismally.
In California, Governor Gavin Newsom staked a strong claim to being the most powerful force in the Democratic Party, as his Proposition 50 gained the support of almost two-thirds of voters. “We stood firm in response to Donald Trump’s recklessness,” Mr. Newsom crowed. “And tonight, after poking the bear, this bear roared with an unprecedented turnout in a special election with an extraordinary result.”
David Shribman: Democratic successes in local U.S. elections won’t salve party’s anxieties about its future
In the run-up to the elections, Mr. Trump’s support numbers had been falling well below 50 per cent. Citing the government shutdown, he tried to play down his role in the defeat, saying on Truth Social (in his usual all-caps) that “‘Trump wasn’t on the ballot, and shutdown, were the two reasons that Republicans lost elections tonight,’ according to pollsters.”
If the Republicans saw some light in the results, it was the victory by Mr. Mamdani. His win, said House Speaker Mike Johnson, “cements” the Democratic Party’s “transformation to a radical, big-government socialist party.”
Mr. Trump scored badly with voters during his first term in office and lost in 2020. He is scoring badly this time as well. Whether Tuesday’s results were a statement win is too early to tell. But the momentum has swung against Mr. Trump and, mercifully, against his tariff crusade.
