Governor-elect Abigail Spanberger at her Election Night rally in Richmond, Virginia, November 4, 2025 (Stephanie Scarbrough/AP)
EA on Pat Kenny Show: Mamdani’s Moment? Today’s Elections from New York to New Jersey to Virginia
EA-CEO Retort VideoCast: A Positive Politics Beyond “Left” and “Right”
In his victory speech early Wednesday, New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani told a rapturous crowd, “In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light.”
This was a beacon of a new politics, an alternative to the Trump-dominated rhetoric and division across much of US political culture and the national media. This was a real call for unity, not a throwaway line, as Mamdani listed all groups in New York City’s diverse 8.5-million community: “We believe in standing up for those we love.”
These were concrete measures to deal with the cost of living, housing, food, child care, and transport, rather than invective and insults. Far from retreating from the “radical/socialist/communist” smears thrown at him by Donald Trump’s camp, Mamdani dared to quote the iconic US socialist Eugene Debs: “I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.”
But the glow was not just in New York. In the Governor’s races in Virginia and New Jersey, Democrats Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill won by large margins. In Pennsylvania, three liberal justices won another 10-year term on the Supreme Court, which could soon issue important rulings on abortion and voting rights. New York State capital Albany elected its first black woman Mayor, Dorcey Applyrs.
Voters in Maine approved a ballot measure to restrict a potentially dangerous person’s access to guns. In Colorado, they approved a tax increase on wealthy households to pay for free breakfast and lunch for all public school children and to bolster the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
Beyond the individual triumphs, this was a victory over those who been declaring that the Democratic Party is dysfunctional and in critical condition. That proclamation — made by commentators in the UK as well as in US — was always based on a superficial glance at the national headlines rather than the lifeblood of US politics in the diversity of its 50 states and thousands of communities.
This was a victory over those who have put the false choice for America, including the Democrats, of either attention to economic issues or attention to rights. Many showed that it can and should be both, battling against the real dysfunction in Washington. As Governor-elect Spanberger summarized, “Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our Commonwealth over chaos.”
This was a victory over Trump’s campaign against migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers, threatening to deport millions in defiance of the rule of law. It was a pushback against his threat to “enemies within”. Mamdani staked out the ground:
New York will remain a city of immigrants: a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us.
These were “off-cycle” elections, with only a few states making choices. All of the US will be involved in the 2026 Congressional mid-terms, as well as state and local races.
But for those celebrating today, not just in the US but in other countries facing the politics of division, every daybreak begins with a glimmer.
