By Solé Scott
Editor-in-Chief
The 2025 off-year election brought a new historic win for Democrats across the country.
Voters across the country on Nov. 4 cast ballots in the national elections for mayor and house special elections and legislative offices in different cities and states.
Communication major Alexis O’Dell, a sophomore, followed the elections.
“I thought that the elections this year were competitive,” O’Dell said. “I saw a lot of people posting about voting for different people.”
Turnout was reported to be high in cities, including New York City, according to Politico. Democrats took back control of key offices and legislative positions this year.
The most anticipated race of the year was between none other than independent candidate Andrew Cuomo and Democrat Zohran Mamdani. Mamdani won the election with 50.4% of votes, while Cuomo had 41.6%. Most votes for Mamdani came from young and new voters, which made him the new leader of the largest city in the United States of America.
According to data from CNN, Mamdani secured his votes in Queens, the Bronx and Brooklyn, while Manhattan was mixed, and Staten Island went towards Cuomo.
Mamdani is the first Muslim mayor of New York City.
In the beginning, Mamdani was racing against Eric Adams until he pulled out on Sept. 29.
Adams talked about his struggle as mayor in a new interview with journalist Ziwe Fumundoh on her talk show, “Ziwe.”
“I think I’m the first mayor that had to fight the federal government to defend this city from a $7.2 billion hole in our budget that would impact low-income New Yorkers and have to pay the price for that,” Adams said.
Adams has been under federal investigations for corruption and bribery. His campaign also had financial issues.
“I hope that the mayor of New York is going to make a good contribution like he says he will, and that he preaches, and I believe that he will. So, time will tell,” O’Dell said.
In New Jersey, Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the race for governor against Trump-backed candidate Jack Ciattarelli by 445,506 votes.
In Virginia, the race for governor was another closely watched election. Republican Lieutenant Gov. Winsome EarleSears lost to Democrat Abigail Spanberger in a shocking flip.
In a press conference afterwards, Earle-Sears said that she called Spanberger and left her a voicemail.
“I asked her to please consider all of us Virginians. That she will represent all of us and not just some of us,” Earle-Sears said.
Debates this year were heavily focused on the economy, welfare, education and public safety. For example, during the live debate for New York City mayor that was hosted on NBC, Mamdani was asked what his first foreign visit would be.
“I would stay in New York City; my plans are to address New Yorkers across the five boroughs and focus on that,” Mamdani said.
The next major elections will be for next year’s midterm, where voters will choose candidates for governors, representatives and senators.
