On Nov. 4, 2025, several electoral races occurred around the country, including in Monroe County. The Democratic Party experienced wins across the nation, illustrating a shift in voters from the federally governing Republican Party.
New York State
In Monroe County, the Democratic Party earned many wins. With 80 total races in Monroe County, the Democratic Party — often in coalition with the Working Families Party — won 46 races, while the Conservative and Republican Parties won 34. Mayor Malik Evans won his re-election, beating Conservative challenger Louis Sabo with nearly 86 percent of the vote. Sheriff Todd Baxter ran and won unopposed.
The Democratic and Working Families Parties largely won elections inside the city of Rochester and surrounding areas, while the Republican and Conservative Parties frequently won the exurbs. In Henrietta, the Democratic Party won both elections for Town Supervisor and Town Council.
New York City saw a surprising victory from Zohran Mamdani, who won 50 percent of the vote, with 1.03 million votes. Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist and the Democratic Party nominee, beat former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo and Curtis Sliwa, a challenger running on the Republican Party line. Mamdani ran on an unusually progressive platform, promising rent freezes, free buses and affordability in a city that is notoriously known for being expensive.
Roselyn Vazquez, a 4th year School of Individualized Studies student with a focus on occupational therapy, shared her thoughts on the Mamdani victory.
“I immediately let out a sigh of relief, not because I thought there’d be immediate change, but because I thought ‘Finally someone who understands us.’” Vazquez, a resident of Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, cast her vote for Mamdani because she hopes that he addresses the rise of violence, homelessness and affordable housing.
On the role of college students in local elections, Vazquez advises, “Continue to educate yourself and hold your leaders accountable. The best form of resistance we have is education. Continue to be loud and kind, keep asking tough questions, fight even when it seems hopeless. It’s excruciating but not impossible.”
Sean Ryan, a Democrat, won the mayoral election in Buffalo with 72.3 percent of the vote. Dorcey Applyrs, a Democrat, won the mayoral election in Albany with 83.6 percent of the vote. Applyrs is the first Black mayor in the city’s history.
Everywhere Else
The Democratic Party also experienced huge wins in California, New Jersey and Virginia. Proposition 50, a measure that would change California’s congressional district boundaries to make it easier for the Democratic Party to flip around five seats, passed with roughly 64 percent of the vote. This measure was voted on as a way to counteract redistricting efforts in Republican-controlled states such as Texas.
Mikie Sherrill won the gubernatorial race in New Jersey with 56 percent of the vote, becoming the first Democratic woman to hold the position in the state.
In Pennsylvania, three liberal Supreme Court justices won their re-election campaigns, guaranteeing their positions for the next 10 years. This was a closely watched election as the court’s docket currently has cases on reproductive rights, redistricting, gun laws and climate change.
In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger — a Democrat and a former Virginia representative — won the gubernatorial race against Winsome Earl-Sears, the Republican nominee and current lieutenant governor. Spanberger won the race with 57 percent of the vote and is also the first woman to hold the position in the state.
For the Virginia Attorney General, Democrat Jay Jones won the race over incumbent Republican Jason Miyares with 52.7 percent of the vote. Jones experienced a challenge over the past few months when violent text messages — in which he discussed shooting the former Republican House speaker and his children — were leaked to the public. The Virginia House of Delegates also experienced a 13-seat flip to the Democrats, giving the party control over all three chambers of the state’s government. Every county but five in Virginia experienced a voting shift to the Democratic Party as a result of the government shutdown and the Trump Administration’s volatile policies that resulted in hundreds of federal employees being laid off. Several counties saw a bigger margin of victory with Spanberger when compared to the Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
Those recent electoral successes with the Democratic Party show an important forecast for the 2026 midterm elections. The Republican Party may face a major challenge during the elections, depending on how it responds to the current divide in the party over the release of the Epstein files and its response to recent immigration raids.
