After ten months of setback after setback, something weird happened.
Voters showed up again.
Many had sat out the presidential election in 2024 for all sorts of reasons. Some criticized Kamala Harris’ gender. Others, encouraged by Donald Trumps campaign, mocked her laugh.
Let’s not forget: Kamala was running against a criminal who tried to overthrow the government rather than admit defeat. Yet she had to defend her laugh to the American public.
The Most-Watched Race
The race for mayor of New York City dominated the national conversation.
Zohran Mamdani trounced disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo.
His message was simple: fight for the 99%, not the 1%. His message resonated, and Zohran won with 50.4% of the vote compared to Cuomo’s 41.6%.
Despite being “only” a mayoral race, New York City’s mayoral race drew massive national attention:
Bernie Sanders and AOC endorsed Zohran months earlier, but other big-name Democrats were much more wavering. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries offered a late endorsement of Mamdani while saying that Mamdani would not be the future of the Democratic Party.
Donald Trump tried to press his thumb on the scale by endorsing his Covid era-adversary Cuomo and issuing threats to the city he once called home if Zohran triumphed.
Fox News alternated between scaring its viewers with the prospect of a Muslim mayor in NYC and warning that a leader whose platform could benefit ordinary New Yorkers must be “communist” or “socialist”.
Late to the game, evil incarnate itself – Stephen Miller – announced his endorsement of Cuomo, presumably from the military base he’s holed up in. After all, he’s so reviled that he is now afraid to face the people he “serves.”
Even Texas Governor Greg Abbott stepped into the fray, promising “100% tariffs” on New Yorkers who moved to Texas if Mamdani won. This was idiotic for two reasons: (1) how do you “tariff” a human being who moves to your state, and (2) he was threatening to penalize people leaving New York — the very ones who likely didn’t support Mamdani in the first place. Go figure.
Voters took it all in, looked at Zohran’s platform, and collectively said, “F** you” to those who’ve made their lives so much harder.
Other signs of hope
Zohran’s win was just one of last night’s victories against Trumpism and the new Republican Party.
Voters in California showed up in droves to approve Proposition 50 — Governor Gavin Newsom’s plan to redistrict California’s congressional districts to counter the redistricting in Texas demanded by Trump.
In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill won the governorship, dashing hopes for Republican challenger Jack Ciattarelli.
Abigail Spanberger turned Virginia’s Governor’s Mansion blue by defeating Winsome Earle-Sears, becoming the state’s first female governor. Similarly, Ghazala Hashmi won the race for lieutenant governor, defeating John Reid and becoming Virginia’s first female Muslim lieutenant governor.
In Pennsylvania, voters retained three Democratic state Supreme Court justices, maintaining a 5–2 majority over Republicans. Interestingly, I learned that in Pennsylvania, Supreme Court justices must be re-approved every ten years and retire at 75. That’s an idea the rest of the country should consider.
In short, people showed up and rejected Trump and Republican policies in races across the country. Trump tried to blame the losses on discontent caused by the government shutdown — which, of course, he blamed on Democrats in the first place.
We’re nowhere near out of the woods — that’s certain. But last night gave us a glimmer of hope that voters might finally shed their apathy next year. Anything can still happen between now and then. But seeing Republicans actually lose elections is a lot more comforting than just seeing poll numbers that suggest they might.
