The election in NYC and other things to watch in the US election

Election day in the US.

Voters turned in New York to elect a new mayor, while Virginia and New Jersey will decide a pair of high-profile gubernatorial races. California voters will weigh in on whether to redraw their US House District maps.

This so-called “Off Year” does not feature presidential or congressional races, but there are many critical votes to watch tonight.

In the Mayoral battle in New York City, a young, progressive Democrat is pitted against a member of the Party’s old guard.

In the states of Virginia and New Jersey the outcome of the gubernatorial battles will be bellwethers for the next congressional elections next year.

Californians voted for a unique mid-decade transition, while Democrats tried to counter the efforts of Republicans to give their Party a Midterm election next year.

Here are five things to watch out for.

All eyes will be on the big apple as Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old owner of the state, tried a political bride in his prayer to be a century of a century.

Mamdani, a democratic socialist, shocked by the political establishment When he defeated former Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Primary this summer. Cuomo, unknown, continues to campaign as an independent. Meanwhile, Republican Curtis Sliwa resisted pressure to drop out of the race to clear a path for Cuomo.

If Mamdani wins, he will become the city’s first Muslim mayor. Democrats across the country will be watching to see if his laser-focus on cost-cutting issues like rent, groceries and wages can serve as effective messaging in future races.

Although Mamdani led on election night with a suggested lead in the polls, the gap between him and Cuomo held back. In the final round of the campaign, Cuomo placed Mamdani on crime and public safety, and said the young politician lacked the experience to run a Big American City.

California’s Democratic leadership is asking voters for permission to redraw the state’s congressional districts in the middle of the decade. That’s unusual in California, which by law relies on a nonpartisan committee to draw congressional maps once every decade, based on census data.

However, as Republican-led states and Missouri seek to rush their congressional maps to give their Party the 2026 Midterm Election Gavin Newsom want to counter the losses in the revision in his own condition.

California’s proposition 50 will allow the temporary use of new Congressional District Maps until 2030. The campaign costs donations, with democratic congressmen, with democratic owners, with democratic congressmen, with democratic labor efforts.

California Republicans, who hold only nine of the 52 seats in the State of the State, strongly oppose the plan.

A University of California Berkeley / IGS Poll suggests 60% of California voters support Proposition 50, while 38% oppose it. The breakdown was highly partisan, with 93% of Democrats saying they would vote “yes” and 91% of Republicans voting “no”.

New Jersey is considered a Democratic state, but polls indicate a close race between Democrat Mikie Shertrill and Republican Jack Catarelli. It’s one of two gubernatorial races this year that could define how Americans feel about the current political climate.

Sherrill currently represents New Jersey’s 11th district in Congress, and Ciattrellili is a former state assemblyman.

Despite leaning blue, the state has had Republican governors in the past. The latter, Chris Christie, served two terms between 2010 and 2018.

The rhetoric of the race has heated up. Cattarelli and his supporters ran political ads with clips of Sherrill giving halting answers in interviews about his policies.

It also drew attention to national names from both parties. Democratic stars like former President Barack Obama and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg campaigned with Sherrill. President Donald Trump attended a virtual rally for Ciattarelli, and conservative activist Jack Posobiec supported him.

The leadership of Virginia usually flows between the Democrats and the Republicans, which means that the outcome of the annual gubernatorial election returns for the state of the electorate.

Regardless of which candidate wins, the state will elect its first female governor this year. Voters will choose between Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a US Congresswoman, and Republican Winsome Earle-Searle-Searle-Searle, the current lieutenant governor.

If Sears wins, she will become the first black woman elected to lead a US state in the nation’s history.

Virginia is joined by Liberal-Leaning Washington DC to the north, where many residents work in the nation’s Capitol or for the federal government. But the state also has deep pockets of conservative voters across the mountain districts, and swing voters.

Spanberger highlighted the economic impact of Trump’s cuts to the federal government, which have affected jobs in Virginia. Sears-sears focus on Virginia’s economy under Republican leadership. But he also leaned on cultural topics like transgender issues, which Republicans successfully used as a leadership issue last year.

Although he is not on the ballot, Trump’s name looms large in this election.

The race in New York City is how the city’s next leader will deal with the Trump Administration, which is driving the city’s politics. Cuomo is pitching his experience as governor dealing with the first administration as a reason for voters to choose him.

The President explained that he would punish the city if the voters chose Mamdani.

“It’s hard for me as the President to give a lot of money to New York, because if you have a communist running New York, all you’re doing is wasting the money you send there,” Trump said In an interview with the CBS program 60 minutes began on Sunday. Mamdani rejected the Communist label.

Trump kicked off the resurgence of the war that led California to put proposition 50 on the ballot, and endorsed Cattrelelli in the New Jersey Governor’s race.