In recent months, as Democratic candidates racked up a series of impressive special election victories, there were some lingering questions about the significance of the results. Sure, some pundits said, Democrats won by surprising margins in every part of the country — from Arizona to Iowa, Wisconsin to Pennsylvania — overperforming when compared with last year’s results, but those off-year elections were relatively low-turnout affairs.
Could Democrats do as well on Election Day 2025? That question now has an unambiguous answer. As a New York Times analysis summarized:
With their election night triumphs on Tuesday, Democrats showed that their demoralized party — which spent the past year mired in self-recriminations and soul-searching — could still accomplish the most important goal in politics. They can win. And win big.
The highest-profile contests offered obvious proof of the Democratic breakthrough: Governors-elect Mikie Sherrill and Abigail Spanberger won their races by double digits in New Jersey and Virginia, respectively, and California’s Proposition 50 is on track for a landslide win. In New York City, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani ended former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s career with a decisive 9-point victory.
But the scope and scale of the party’s triumphs extend well beyond the top of the ballot. From Mississippi to Pennsylvania, Minnesota to Maine, Democrats celebrated an electoral clean sweep.
Even in Georgia, where Democrats haven’t won a nonfederal statewide race in almost two decades, Democratic candidates successfully (and easily) defeated two Republican members of the state’s utility board. A separate Times report noted, “The closely watched races for two of the five seats on the Georgia Public Service Commission had been viewed not only as a referendum on rising electric bills but also as a bellwether for next year’s contests for governor and U.S. Senate.”
GOP officials looking for good news from Election Day 2025 will need magnifying glasses.








