Raleigh, N.C. - February 18th, 2025: Senator Sydney Batch, North Carolina Senater Minority Leader, talks with peers before a Senate session starts at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Cornell Watson for The Assembly)

Unequivocally, Tuesday was a good day for Democrats. 

Capitalizing on a backlash against President Donald Trump, Democratic candidates for governor won landslides in New Jersey and Virginia, states Trump lost by about 6 points last year. Zohran Mamdani romped in New York City’s mayoral election. California’s gerrymandering amendment passed with almost two-thirds of the vote, allowing Democrats to effectively cancel Texas’ Trump-ordered summer redistricting.   […]

Jeffrey Billman is a politics and law reporter for The Assembly. The former editor-in-chief of INDY in Durham, he holds a master's degree in public policy analysis from the University of Central Florida.