The Sweet Blue Sweep. Where Else We Won!

November 12, 2025

Democrats are basking in the glow of last Tuesday's Sweet Blue Sweep of the elections of 2025 -- and resounding victories in the governors' races in Virginia and New Jersey, the New York City mayoral, and California's Proposition 50, as well as mayoral, judicial, initiatives and other elections nationwide.

In a clear rebuke to Donald Trump's presidency and congressional Republicans' devastating agenda, the American people registered their dissatisfaction at the voting booth November 4th -- in the first major test of the electorate since Trump reclaimed the White House.

The slate of decisive victories is a credit to a reinvigorated national Democratic Party that has made an unprecedented investment of millions in funding and fielding state parties and candidates up and down the ticket, including in red states.

See: DemDaily: The Sweet Blue Sweep! 11/7/25

WHERE ELSE WE WON! The Highlights
With these victories, Democrats have now won or overperformed in nearly 90% of key elections in 2025.

LEGISLATURES
In the two state legislative chambers that held regularly scheduled elections in 2025, Democrats critically expanded their control of the Virginia House of Delegates and New Jersey State Assembly, achieving supermajorities in both chambers.

Following an August 19 court-ordered redistricting of Mississippi's electoral map due to its dilution of Black voting power and violation of the Civil Rights Act, State Senate special elections to elect 10 of 52 members of the Mississippi State Senate were held November 4. Democrats broke the GOP supermajority after flipping at least two seats in that chamber, plus another pickup in the State House.

STATE EXECUTIVE
In Georgia, Democrats Peter Hubbard and Alicia Johnson won the statewide contests for two of the five seats on the State's Public Service Commission -- with each securing roughly 60% of the vote and flipping 17 counties that voted for Trump in each of the past three presidential elections.

It's the first time Democrats have won a nonfederal statewide office in the Peach State in nearly 20 years.

Virginia held the only Attorney General's race of 2025, where Democrat Jay Jones defeated Republican incumbent Jason Miyares.

JUDICIAL
The Pennsylvania State Supreme Court will preserve its 5-2 Democratic majority after all three Democratic justices up for retention reelection were resoundingly endorsed by Keystone State voters to serve another 10-year term.

The battleground state's high court has played a pivotal role in voting and civil rights fights with national implications over the last decade.

It was the second of two extremely consequential 2025 State Supreme Court elections -- following the decisive April 1 victory in Wisconsin of Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford, a Democrat, to the state's high court.

That judicial contest -- the most expensive state Supreme Court election in history at close to $100 million -- secured the court's 4-3 liberal majority and the fate of reproductive rights, voting rights, union rights and fair electoral maps in the crucial presidential battleground state.

BALLOT MEASURES
In 2025, 30 statewide ballot measures were certified for the ballot in nine states: California, Colorado, Louisiana, Maine, New York, Ohio, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin -- 24 of which took place November 4, including:

California's Proposition 50 Special Election was the big ticket of the night, with Golden State voters overwhelmingly passing the legislatively-referred constitutional amendment, also known as the Election Rigging Response Act, 64%-36%.

The measure approved a new temporary congressional map, drawn to help Democrats win five more US House seats in California in 2026. The effort is designed to rebut Trump's mandate to force mid-term gerrymandering of congressional districts in Republican states, like Texas -- in an unprecedented national partisan redistricting war.

Maine: Democracy prevailed by wide margins in two citizen-initiated state ballot measures in Maine. The results bode well for Democrats, who are hoping to unseat five-term GOP US Senator Susan Collins, whose defeat will be essential to winning a majority in the US Senate.

Question 1: In a resounding victory for voting rights, the Require Voter Photo ID and Change Absentee Ballot and Drop Box Rules Initiative was overwhelmingly rejected by voters, 64.09%-35.91%. The citizen-initiated ballot measure would have imposed numerous voter suppression restrictions.

Question 2, the Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPO) to Restrict Firearms and Weapons Access Initiative, also known as a red flag law, allows for temporary restrictions on the possession of dangerous weapons if the individual poses a risk to themselves or others. The measure passed 63%-37%, making Maine the 22nd state to enact a red flag law.

Colorado: In a landslide 66%-34% win, Colorado voters approved legislatively-referred Propositions LL and MM, which allows the state to keep previously tax revenue for the Healthy School Meals for All program and continue free school meals for all students, while raising wages for school nutrition workers and supporting local food sourcing.

Going into the November 2025 election, 66 mayors in the largest 100 cities by population are affiliated with the Democratic Party, 23 are affiliated with the Republican Party, one is affiliated with the Libertarian Party, three are independents, five identify as nonpartisan or unaffiliated, and two mayors' affiliations are unknown.

NATIONWIDE MAYORAL ELECTIONS
Of the country's 100 largest cities, 27 held elections in 2025, 19 of which took place on November 4. All told, Democrats have prevailed in 24 big city mayoral races so far this year, including ousting Republican incumbents in Omaha, Nebraska and Garland, Texas earlier this year. In a vindication of voter sentiment, Democratic mayoral candidates were victorious across the country on November 4.

Unquestionably, the highest-profile mayoral contest of 2025 took place in New York City, where 34-year-old Queens State Assemblyman and Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani defeated former three-term Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo to become the city's first Muslim mayor and the first South Asian.

Uncalled
In Seattle, Washington, progressive Katie Wilson leads incumbent Democratic Mayor Bruce Harrell by just over 1,300 votes. The incumbent was ahead by more than 10,000 votes the day after the election, but mail-in ballots counted after November 4 put the challenger in the lead.

Mayoral Runoff elections
New Jersey, Jersey City: Among a field of seven contenders, City Council member James Solomon (29.2%) and former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey (25.1%), both Democrats, advanced to the December 2 runoff.

Miami, Florida: County Board member Eileen Higgins (35.96%) and former city manager Emilio T. Gonzalez (19.47%) advanced to the December 9 runoff.

Albuquerque, New Mexico: Incumbent Democratic Mayor Tim Keller secured 35.6% of the vote, triggering a December 9 runoff with former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White (R), who garnered 30.9%.

Related: DemDaily: The Sweet Blue Sweep! 11/7/25
for the first election night roundup!

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Kimberly Scott
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Sources: NYT, CNN, CBS, New Jersey Monitor, NPR, Politico, VPAP, The Hill, Ballotpedia, AP, NJSpotlight, NBC, DMA, State SOSs