Blue Wave!! Back in 2017, something similar happened – one year after Donald Trump was “elected,” there was a blue-wave election in Virginia, New Jersey and across state and local races. Eight years later, and it’s the exact same reaction to Trump and his fascist bullsh-t. Here’s how everything went last night…
In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger won the governor’s race, but not only that – Democrats swept all of the state elections, and Democrats got a huge majority in the House of Delegates. All of the polling had Spanberger winning by a healthy margin, but not by the 15-point margin she ended up getting. Spanberger had coattails too – VA Dems were worried about the Attorney General race because Jay Jones had a BS controversy, but Jones ended up winning. Ghazala Hashmi is also the first Muslim woman in American history to hold state-wide office as Virginia’s lieutenant governor. Spanberger is also Virginia’s first woman governor!!
In New Jersey, they’re also getting a female governor – Mikie Sherrill won the governor’s race, defeating Trump-approved Republican Jack Ciattarelli. Sherill also won by a double-digit margin too. And in New York City, Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral race. Mamdani becomes the first person of South Asian descent and first Muslim to be elected as New York’s mayor. He won by 50.4%, and Andrew Cuomo got 41.6% of the vote. I know Mamdani will get the bulk of the attention from mainstream media (because so many journalists live in New York), but the Virginia races are much more indicative of the mood of the country.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
also PA voting to retain our judges was a huge deal for us
This was a BIG deal!!!
To Lisa, you are absolutely correct the judges getting reelected is a big deal, and even bigger deal when it comes to safe guarding the importance of the integrity of the national election in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
Absolutely!
A big thanks to Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, Californians, New Jerseyans, and Virginians.
What you all did was a very BIG DEAL.
All awesome AND California passed prop 50
YES!!! As a Texan who got disenfranchised in the redistricting power-grab by Trump and Abbott, I am so grateful and glad. Thank you, California!!
That was HUGE!!! Well done California, VA, New Jersey, New York, PA. Omg what an ass whooping!
Felt something this morning reading all the articles and hearing some victory speeches… felt something other than dread, embarrassment, defeat. I felt a spark of joy, hope, maybe we can stand and be true.
H, I agree. I felt hope for the first time since election night.
Every county in Va shifted blue. Every county.
I pray it’s a good omen for midterm elections.
I just felt like I could finally breathe, like I’d been holding my breath this entire election season.
I did an actual happy dance last night!
I’m feeling some real hope here. Everyone does hate you Donny and your sucky regime.
He’s probably throwing food this morning.
Democrats winning in blue states and cities is expected, so I’m not overly excited about that. What I am excited about is Newsom having the guts to put Prop 50 on the ballot and the massive turnout to support it. Democrats are finally fighting back.
Virginia was a surprisingly strong blue turnout though, as its not as blue a state as NJ or NYC (as a city.) so that one is nowhere near as simple as “blue states voting blue” no matter what Mike Johnson says. The NJ race was supposed to be incredibly close. It wasn’t.
And I just saw that Mississippi Rs have lost their supermajority in their house of delegates. A texas district flipped blue.
I was surprised at how much Mikie Sherrill won by. It was not supposed to be such a runaway.
Former NYC gal (Brooklyn -> Staten Island) and I am so disgusted by my family and most of my friends that I had growing up who never left SI AND those who migrated down the shore of NJ.
If you look at the red swath in central jersey down the shore, that is the result of staten islanders (and mostly italian brooklyn peeps) moving to that area. They brought the red to that area.
Agree.
It was a blue tsunami! From VA, to PA, to Detroit, to Albany NY, to Mississippi! Democrats won big. And women were the story! Not to mention prop 50 in California! (Hope I’m not thread jacking!)
I need for democrats to main this mindset of winning and keep our foot on the gas. Those wins were a repudiation of everything DT stands for and we have to maintain to get rid of him. For the first time in 10 months I have hope.
“For the first time in 10 months I have hope” my feelings exactly also.. the exhale after seeing the result this morning was deep.
I’m allowing myself to feel a little bit of hope too.
Here in NJ every media source was saying the race was “neck and neck”. Mikie Sherrill won by THIRTEEN POINTS. She flipped 6 counties back to blue from 2024.
Virginia is amazing. PA kept their judges. CA yes to 50.
I have mentioned before here that I write for postcards to voters. Every single campaign I wrote for this election WON. That has never, ever happened to me. (And we have 2 special election campaigns still going for Florida and Tennessee, if anyone wants to join in!).
Postcards is something I really enjoy doing for election campaigns. But after the presidential election I stepped all the way back. It was a stab in the heart and I needed the break.
Last night was the flicker of hope & I needed it. I hope that these sparks ignite a flame that lasts.
I wonder if I got one of your postcards, I received four this election lol. I would love to write postcards, but a few that I’ve looked up only send out sets in 200-250 minimum and I can’t afford the postage for that. :/
@CALBOOKLOVER
I have gotten cards from my local County Democrats office. They gave me cards & addresses in groups of 20, and the postage was pre-paid. All I had to do was write them out & mail them.
There’s also the Card Campaign, which is not a mail campaign. It’s a favorite of Heather Cox Richardson’s —
Card Campaign For Democracy
https://share.google/9Uls1Vx4nKN5CdSDs
calbooklover, with Postcards to Voters, you can sign up for as few as 4. I usually do them in groups of 5 or 10. You can also make your own postcards or use a certain size index card, but they also sell some great ones to help raise funds. There are a lot of volunteers there who work in groups too, and other organizations that have the supplies donated but just need the labor.
Idles I will check that out too, thanks!
To be honest I thought that there would be cheating like how trump got in but I’m very happily surprised the cheating wasn’t a part of any of these races and the blue wave hit and hit hard!!
Right? This is how elections look when Elon doesn’t rig them!
The PEOPLE spoke loud and clear!
Trump didn’t win these states so they basically no longer exist in his tiny mind.
Well he did win Mississippi and he did win Pennsylvania (with the musk rats help) and democrats won in those states. Pennsylvania for their federal judges.
They called it for Zohran at 9:03PM. Our polls closed at 9PM. We went crazy last night.
Funny: the Secretary of State for KY tweeted that his office was getting many calls about polls being closed and had to remind his constituents they can’t vote for the NYC mayoral race. At least ppl are excited to go out and vote.
I was a poll worker in NYC yesterday. As soon as we cleaned up, I literally ran down the street to my dad’s place and we broke out the good whiskey to celebrate. Clinked glasses with my grandparents’ urns, lol. We’re an old socialist family and never thought anyone who even partially used that label would ever be elected.
Hi, neighbor!!!
I’m relieved, but one election does not a revolution make. We have to push back more effectively this time. We cannot let these fascists and Christian Nationalists destroy us, and they absolutely will if we allow it.
I agree. Feel it and look to what’s next. “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts”
@Heylee I love that quote!!
Absolutely this. But it’s an injection of LFG! we need right now.
We’ve won a battle. We can’t relax now. We have to keep fighting everywhere all the time now. We need to look to the elections in 2026 now and set our sights on those.
Amen to that, Trump will be doubling down on his efforts to suppress the voters at Midterms, we cannot take a breather, we gained a little ground last night, but the fight is nowhere near over.
Accurate!
I would say a main thing we need to do is figure out how to fix the media. All the mainstream media is just flavors of right wing, and that ain’t right. Pick one to start with, boycott the holdings of it and force them to divest sounds like a strategy but… lots of people love their amazon and would never be able to stop shopping there, for example, if we wanted to force Bezos to sell Wapo to someone not fascist.
Thank you VA for not voting for that crazy lady. And thank you NY for not electing that predator.
IKR? Even her response ads defending herself came across as crazy!
Andrew was in my neighborhood this summer. Riding around in a flatbed dressed in a shirt jack and if you’re Caribbean you know what that is. My neighborhood is mixed but still hugely Caribbean, he was going to a famous bakery in the area. They drive past and they scream at me : Are you going to vote for him? Me: HELL Figgin( didn’t say friggin ) NO! He’s a predator!!! They got real quiet and kept driving.
I was discharged from hospital 4 days ago after a super risky cancer treatment. I double masked, got an Uber and dragged my exhausted, broken butt to the polls in NJ to vote. I was NOT going to miss this election and my chance to leave things a little better in case my Hail Mary car-t therapy doesn’t take. Smiling into my coffee and drugs this morning because enough of us showed up to get this done!
I wish you healing and love. Thank you for going to vote. Fighters like You are why this country has hope.❤️
Please sign up for the mail in ballot.
RMS, you are amazing! Wishing you all the best in your treatment and recovery.
Wish you well RMS. Glad you’re getting to smile into coffee this morning .
Sending you love, light, and healing vibes.
RMS glad you’re able to smile this morning. Wishing you well.
That is so badass, RMS!
Thank you for your precious vote! Sending love and light in your healing journey.
Wishing you the best xxx
Fingers and toes crossed for your Hail Mary, RMS!
Love and healing to you RMS! You’re a rock star!
Wishing you the best, and thank you for voting, from a fellow NJ voter!
I vote by mail, though I actually return mine in a secure ballot drop off box at my local library, and then verify with the NJ Voter Info Portal that it was received. It makes it much easier to get my vote in and not have to wait in line at the polls, plus I get the ballot for every election, even the weird little off-cycle local ones.
Thank you @RMS. Relish the win, pamper yourself today and rest/heal.
You are an example of what a true patriot is. Wishing you the best and health in your fight.
Love, light, healing and GRATITUDE to you!!
_Thank_ you, RMS!!! The NJ GOP gov. candidate would have raised taxes across the board—and governors are one of the few things protecting against Trump overreach. Good luck and healing to you!!
Grateful for your vote. Inspired by your spirit. All the best to you, RMS. 🙏🏾
You’re amazing and an inspiration. And you contributed to Sherrill’s wild margin 🙂 Wishing you successful treatment, and a wonderful week.
💕
Over here in Maine we defeated some stupid voter id/absentee voting rules and passed a gun control law.
So happy to see the results this morning for all over the country!
I was just coming on here to mention Maine! Yippee!
Yes, Maine!! So happy this morning with the new red flag law.
Really important results!
Great job Maine!
It looks bad for Trump in mid term elections
It sure does, and while I am enjoying the blue wave from yesterday, that makes me worried. He doesn’t want the election to happen, and it worries me what they’ll pull to keep from losing any power.
Madam Governor! And congrats to Lt. Gov Hashmi. She will do good work in her new position just like she did in the General Assembly! Two women at the helm!
At least Cincinnati re-elected their Mayor and JD Vance’s cousin/brother fell by the wayside.
Fantastic news!
Add Ohio to the Victory List!!! Yeah!!!
Ugh—Vance has a political sibling!?!! 🤮🤮🤮
Nice to have a good news day.
T-rump will probably retaliate by knocking down another wing of the White House. He still thinks this is his forever home and sadly they’ll do anything stop any form of democracy. So glad to see the states stepping up.
I will take a good day over a bad day any day. LOL
Also JD’s 1/2 bro losing majorly was the icing on the cake
You beat me to it. I posted the percentages below. Truly, the icing on this particular cake was absolutely delicious. 😊
Love to see it, especially in VA. My cynical self thought Cuomo might pull it out but silly me. Good.
I would not allow myself to imagine a cuomo loss – my husband’s family lives in queens and let’s just say that their political views are…disappointing at best. I was so pumped last night when the announcement was made.
Another win for the Democrats, and a particularly satisfying one: JD Vance’s half-brother, Cory Bowman, was slammed in his bid to become mayor of Cincinnati. He garnered only 22% of the vote. The incumbent mayor, Aftab Pureval, walked away with 78% of the vote.
Only 22%? LMAOOOOO. I legit cackled.
The opposite of nepotism! The cursed legacy of association with Shady Vance.
Haha the opposite of nepo. To be fair he’s still nepo because hey it got his foot in the door! (and it got slammed!)
Shady Vance. 😆
OMG I LOVE THIS!!! This is amazing. Watch how these nazi fascists start dialing it back like they haven’t enabled supported and encouraged these crimes all along. Rats off a sinking ship. Let it all go down – and charge them with crimes against humanity.
In VA, the Democrats flipped many seats in the House of Delegates as well so Spanberger has a sizable majority in the state legislature.
This speaks volumes to Youngkin’s administration. Madam Governor elect will be able to uphold what the general assembly passes. A haven for those women needing medical care as well.
On a side note, Youngkin focused on critical issues this week with his executive order of bringing the Presidential Physical Fitness test back to public schools.
One of my daughters is a Virginian and I’m so thrilled that she was part of the blue wave there!
I hope she grinds the GOP into dust in the Commonwealth!
For the first time in a year I have hope. We must continue. The Democratic party must evolve and make room for the younger stars. If everyone feels like at least their voice is heard and they can expect not just to scrape by but actually prosper, then what we are dealing with right now an be defeated. Last night my heart was pounding with something other than fear.💙
So glad to see these results roll in last night!!
Virginia is huge. And I think that one will have the Rs nervous.
Someone on my FB (a HS teacher who is pretty conservative but hates Trump – I don’t think she voted for Harris though, she probably did some BS like write in Reagan, like our governor did) said she was surprised by VA because apparently they have a big surplus right now. And my reaction was uhhh people care more about ICE, cities being invaded by the military and national guard, Republicans refusing to open the government, womens healthcare being attacked – and oh yeah, groceries are more expensive, the job market sucks, and Trump laid off thousands of workers in Northern Virginia.
The culture wars aren’t quite hitting the way they used to and the Rs know that, its why they’re so desperately scrambling to gerrymander as much as possible.
What people tend to forget is that VA has been strong due to 8 years of Dems being in charge, Any surplus or top business ranking the Commonwealth has is due to the Dems that were in the executive branch.
Winsome (Lose-Some) Sears was questioned on CNN I believe about the Federal employees being let go and she had the audacity to say that she was there to answer important or relevant questions – I sat there thinking, did I just hear that correctly.
My favorite comment on FB – Rumor has it she is still speaking.
Eheheh. Some Fox pundits were whining last night that the GOP loss was because too many Virginians are dependent on the government for jobs/checks. 🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄
Proud to be a Jersey girl!! Congrats to Mikie Sherrill, Abigail Spanberger & Zohran Mamdani!
Starting to feel hopeful, finally – Blue Wave 💙💙
Proud Jersey girl here too! So excited!!
Me too! And it was a solid win, not the “neck and neck” close race all the media was screeching about.
It turns out starving people and bragging about it is a pretty stupid electoral strategy. Who knew? But let’s keep our foot on the gas now and give them no quarter. We must fight any attempts to rig next year’s elections. Thank you, California! If the 2026 elections are free and fair, then last night will just be the beginning of a great blue tsunami🌊!
Democrats really are a big tent. Last night we elected a former CIA employee governor of Virginia and a democratic socialist as mayor of our largest city. We should be proud of ourselves. 🫡
Oh, and tell me again how women can’t win. Yes, we can!
That bitch in office threatened an executive action against California gaining more Democratic seats through a proposition. Of course, Texas did the same thing with no push back from Orange. He is ruling not by law, but by political party. No president has ever been so blatantly illegal. And yes, your president can be illegal if he is a despot.
Texas did it at his command. It’s crazy how he just orders these Republicans around and they obey!
That is why none of them can be trusted. Sorry not sorry but they will roll over for Trump right off a cliff he wants them to.
The “safety” of those Texas gerrymanders depends upon Latino/as staying with Republicans, and they are not going to.
I have a feeling that no amount of gerrymandering will save Trump
A glimmer of hope.
Keep going folks, keep going. We elected our first woman mayor in Detroit! The guy she ran against was saying he’d be happy to work with the National Guard if they came here. Sure Jan.
“first woman mayor in Detroit” … more great news!
Mamdani victory is super important because he’s also an out and proud Socialist Democrat. Something many in the Democratic establishment didn’t have the backbone to support. He’s the much needed young new face of the Democratic Party . Also there’s nothing that brings out the abismal insecurities from the flacid orange blob than a handsome, smart, young and popular Democrat man of color.
I cast my vote yesterday morning in the Georgia Public Service Commission races and we flipped the two seats up for grabs to blue! It’s small and not sexy, but me and Hank Green are both happy today.
Hells yeah Betty! Go, Georgia!
I am in tears this morning for all the right reasons. Thank you to all the voters and volunteers involved yesterday.
NJ and VA YES!
GA Commission flipped two seats blue and GA republicans are worried!
California redistricting!
And JD Vance’s half brother lost the mayor of Cincinnati. A city that once elected JERRY SPRINGER as their mayor turned down Vance’s half brother. Cherry. On. The. Cake.
I want to join you in thanking ALL the voters and volunteers.
Such great results.
Mamdani only won by a smidge 50.4% is not a mandate, so he’s not going into office with a lot of political capital. His opponents were badly flawed and disorganized, one on one against someone competent and he’d have been in trouble. He has four years and he has to really deliver.
A new-ish (since August 2022) resident of Virginia, I am pretty excited about the results of the races here. The AG scandal had me worried. But I am so happy for Spanberger and Hashmi. The Lt. Governor in California has announced she intends to run in 2026, I hope she wins so my home state can finally have a female governor!
If Sliwa had dropped out, most of those votes would have likely gone to Cuomo which would have made the margin even slimmer.
TBH I can hardly believe Sliwa ran. There’s a name I haven’t heard in a minute. It’s good that he did. It brought about a positive result for everyone, tho not in the way he’d intended. Go, NYC!! Go Dems everywhere!!!
Hard disagree. Most of those Sliwa voters would have stayed home, making Mamdani’s margin larger.
He got over 50%, and in a 3-person race at that. He’s got a mandate.
That’s not how mandates are defined.
In political science, a “mandate” means more than simply crossing 50%—it refers to an unambiguous electoral endorsement that gives an incoming leader substantial political capital. That typically requires a comfortable margin of victory, strong turnout, and clear voter alignment with the winner’s platform.
Mamdani barely cleared 50% in a 3-way race against flawed opponents. Nearly half of voters chose someone else. Speculating that Sliwa voters would have stayed home doesn’t change the actual electoral picture. And not all of them would have. Some would stay home, some would switch, and some would vote strategically but you cannot confidently claim the margin would grow. He won, but let’s not kid ourselves: he’s not entering with a mandate.
Kaiser, thank you for tipping your hat at Trump’s earlier “elections.” It is so obvious that there were shenanigans in 2016 and in 2024 (and in 2020, but the sheer number of voters mailing their votes in upended the GOP’s fascistic plans) and I feel like I’m taking crazy pills that it never gets mentioned. What’s a few hundred bomb threats called in from Russia? Who cares that a notoriously unpopular old freak boat managed to win all seven swing states just outside the margin for an automatic recount?
Last night’s wins were amazing and it felt weird not to be voting for anything (my town and state literally had nothing for me to vote in), so just watching the election happen was odd but obviously welcome with the way it turned out.
Relief, happiness, revenge, joy, peace, satisfaction, gratitude are washing over me like a blue wave. I, like all of you, have been holding my breath, crossing all fingers and toes that we could see a glimmer of hope from underneath the absolute avalanche of bs the gop and Trump have wrought. Our beautiful countrys values have been debased, molested, r@ped, stolen and twisted. Now since these results, I have hope. I have hope that we can rise against the evil, the racist, immigrant hating, illegal, immoral and decidedly non Christian values that have been installed in the white house and Congress. When did they think we hate immigrants? Why did they remove our right to decide when we were ready to be Mothers? Birth rates are falling around the world and in America. Is there anything less erotic and sexy than Trump and the idea we have to die for our pregnancies? Don’t they realize that they are only pushing more women into sterilization, avoiding pregnancy and more kids? I used to want another child. No more. Why would I bring a child into Trump’s country? Because that’s what he has made it. He’s polluted our systems of checks and balances and caters to his worst instincts. Look at how he treated his own wives. Cheated, used, lied, betrayed, abandoned, that’s what he is doing to all of us. I will never bear another child now. I’m getting my tubes tied. I suspect many others feel the same. This is not my country, this is not my president, not my Congress or senate. Its all run by a pack of elderly white men bent on selling the heart and soul of America out to hate and profit, not to mention the planet and the rest of the worlds countries. When did America the shining city on the hill become Guantanamo bay, where we are all forced to carry every baby to term even if it’s going to endanger us, where there’s no due process, where our neighbors are subjected to gestapo arrest and detention, where petty small minded selfish values are being vaunted to the presidency. Our country was great. Now? Its a sinking turd in a toilet bowl. I blame trump. I blame racist low tax obsessed bigots for debasing and perverting our beloved country like it’s their personal underaged prostitute. Oh yeah release the Epstein files you disgusting rapist. How I hate them. How I wish they’d all sink back into whatever dark sad depraved empty cave they crawled out of. No one likes you Republicans. Your time in power is over, your reign of terror is at an end. We say No More!!! Enough is Enough!!! Get out of our government and go to whatever backwater dictator governed country you admire so much. Victor orban in Hungary for example, go live in his country and see how authoritarianism actually works. Go Democrats! Let’s Do This!!!!!!!
Great, the world can breathe a sigh of relief.
So happy about all the results last night and especially proud to be a Virginian today 😊