A year ago, Democrats woke up in the political wilderness after the 2024 elections.
Donald Trump had won the popular vote in his successful attempt to return to Washington, fracturing the Democratic coalition and handing Republicans full control of Congress.
Today, thanks to victories in New Jersey and Virginia, the New York City mayoral race and candidates who focused on the state of the economy, the cost of living and the backlash against Trump, the party may have the outlines of the roadmap to return to power in next year’s midterm elections.
In Virginia, where former Democratic Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and helped Democrats to victory in all three state races, nearly half of voters said the economy was the most important issue in the Commonwealth, according to exit polls.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani arrives at a press conference along with members of his mayoral transition team at Flushing MeadowsCorona Park in New York City on November 5, 2025.
Timothy A. Clary/AFP via Getty Images
Even as nearly 6 in 10 Virginia voters said Virginia’s economy is “excellent” or “good,” on Eight in 10 voters said they were “staying stable” or “falling behind” financially, and most of those voters supported Spanberger, who campaigned on affordability and against Trump’s economic policies and cuts to the federal workforce that have impacted Virginia’s economy and workers in the Washington, D.C., area.
In New Jersey, where Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeated Republican candidate Jack Ciattarelli by a similar margin, the economy and Taxes were the top issues for voters, according to exit polls. Besides, about Half of Garden State voters strongly disapproved of Trump’s performance in office, a a rebuke to Republicans who were encouraged by New Jersey’s drift to the right last year.
And in New York City, where state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral race on a campaign that involved freezing rent for some New Yorkers, making buses free and providing universal child care to New Yorkers, more than half of voters said the cost of living was the most important issue facing New York, according to ABC News exit polls.
Two-thirds of those voters voted for the 34-year-old self-described democratic socialist over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
The results come as Republicans have lost their lead on the economy: According to a new NBC poll this week, 63 percent of Americans believe the Trump administration has failed to meet expectations on the economy.
The same poll found that voters view the Democratic and Republican parties equally on the issue of handling the economy, down from the GOP’s 20-point lead in 2023, and the lowest partisan lead for the GOP on this issue in seven years.
To be clear, Democrats will need more than a unified message on affordability and against the Trump administration to maintain momentum next year: Virginia, New Jersey and New York are Democratic states that don’t necessarily reflect the states and House districts that make up the battlegrounds for control of the House and Senate.
And while turnout was high in the states for an off-year election, there are no safe assumptions about turnout and the makeup of the electorate, as Republicans learned Tuesday night.
The quality of next year’s candidates (their discipline and communication skills) will also play a role. So will Trump’s turnout (and investment) in the midterm elections that will more directly affect his future success in office than Tuesday night’s results.
And so will the country’s economic outlook and how people perceive it: Any improvements could help Democrats and raise Trump’s popularity if his actions are seen as contributing to them.
The results will matter, too, especially in New York City, where elements of Mamdani’s proposed agenda have polarized some communities as much as they have energized a coalition of younger, more diverse New Yorkers.
It’s a reality that Democrats acknowledged Wednesday on “Good Morning America.”
“We had electoral success, and we need to have success and governance,” Spanberger said.
“I’m eager to show the power of an example here in New York City,” Mamdani said, “an example of what it means to not only diagnose the desperation in the lives of workers as the cost of living crisis, but also to deliver on it.”
They also acknowledged that the debate within the party about how to get there is not resolved.
“Is there a fight for the future of the Democratic Party?” ABC’s George Stephanopoulos asked Sherrill on “Good Morning America.”
“I think the struggle will be how to meet people’s expectations,” he responded.
