Democrats dominated across the board, from the Virginia and New Jersey governor’s races to key ballot measures in California. But what does it all mean?
In this video, I break down my five biggest takeaways from Election Night 2025 — what happened, why it matters, and what it tells us about the political landscape heading into 2026 and beyond.
Here’s a quick preview:
1️⃣ Donald Trump lost — and his reaction says everything.
2️⃣ Gavin Newsom quietly had the best night of anyone in politics.
3️⃣ Latino voters have officially become the ultimate swing vote.
4️⃣ Why Democrats shouldn’t mistake 2025’s wins for a 2028 coronation.
5️⃣ The GOP’s Trump problem isn’t getting smaller — it’s getting worse.
Plus, a bonus takeaway: the 2025 results could reshape how both parties approach 2026."
Just a personal observation, first and then I'll get into what I actually want to talk about and try to sound serious... just for a little bit.
Either Chris Cilliza was in a hurry today and had to be somewhere else, (like 60 seconds after this video was completed) or he lives in a coffee house and has been drinking nothing but coffee all day. Because this was a 12 minute video and he just zipped right though it. Or maybe that's what you have to do to sound cool on YouTube today... you have like 5 points, get to the point and finish what your saying. Like someone who is trapped in a water tank and is running out of air.
So here is my takeaway and I'll respond to what Chris Cillizza said.
So it's not just Donald Trump who lost last night and might be the biggest loser. It's really his MAGA movement (which is really just MDTG: Make Donald Trump Great) that lost, everywhere. I mean the 2 governor races with New Jersey and Virginia, and NYC.
New Jersey:
New Jersey is a state of 9.5 million people or so. That equals about 5 million eligible voters, perhaps less, if not everyone is an American citizen. And Democrats have about 900,000 more voters than Democrats. That's a major advantage.
Yes, Republicans can win statewide there, but not by pretending you are so some good ole boy from Hickville, running for Governor of Mississippi, or some other some other MAGA red state. Or Blue Collar Joe from Hackensack, who thinks anyone with a college education, and wealth, is some type of elitist, American traitor or something.
The so-called "angry white man" campaign, doesn't work in New Jersey, when you have a unpopular Republican President and New Jersey voters are pissed off at the national government because the high cost of living and all the government closures, which cost them good jobs.
But this is all news to Republican nominee for Governor Jack Ciattarelli, who if you looked at his campaign for Governor, you might think he was running for Governor of West Virginia, maybe Kentucky.
But the only way a Republican wins statewide in a sate like New Jersey, is running as a Reaganite. You focus on economic issues and affordability. You paint Democrats as tax and spend, fiscally irresponsible leftists. And you tell New Jersey voters how you are going to make the state more affordable and talk about expanding economic freedom and opportunity. That's how Chris Christie and Christine T. Whitman won 2 governors races, each, in New Jersey. Not about making their whole campaign about gay teachers in public schools, boys in girls bathrooms, or claim that Democrats want Sharia Law to take over the America, etc. The whole, damn, MAGA culture war.
Virginia: So let's talk about my neighboring state just across the Potomac River.
So the political makeup in Virginia, is roughly 3 million Democrats and 1.7 million Republicans. That's in a state of about 9 million people. But try to convince Lieutenant Governor Winsome Earle-Sears (Republican nominee for Governor) of that. Again, wrong candidate, in the wrong state. In a state where she has a deficit of over million voters going into the election, she's talking about transgender issues and trying to tie the Democratic nominee, U.S, Representative Abigail Spanberger, to Jay Jones texting scandal.
Look, if this were Kentucky, the Earle-Sears culture war, might work. Probably not because they care about affordability and jobs as well. In West Virginia, definitely. Because education and economics, really "ain't their thang", just as long as you are with them on religious and cultural issues. But Virginia, just like with New Jersey, and New York City... highly wealthy and educated states, that have both lost a lot of jobs under President Trump and places where it's expensive to live. But Lieutenant Governor Earle-Sears thought, that the way you win Virginia is try to convince Virginians that they're wrong and Virginia should just become part of West Virginia culturally, politically, and educationally.
This is just me, but I think the MAGA leadership in the Republican Party thought that the way you win in Virginia, is not to "moderate" (which means sounding like a Conservative Republican) but to change the gender and complexion of the MAGA candidate. I'm sure that's tough to hear, but I think that's obvious.
New York City:
Look, not everyone in New York is a Socialist. At the end of the night, Zohran Mandani only got 50% of the vote and Andrew Cuomo got 41%, and Curtis Silwa got 9%. And if Mamdani gets off to a slow start and his agenda becomes unpopular or stalls, because the City Council doesn't want it, the new Mayor's numbers will fall way under 50%. But in a city like NYC, that tends to be way to the left and everyone in the country, that's east of the West Coast, even a Socialist can win there, when economic times are tough and you have an unpopular Republican President.
And to talk about Chris Cillizza's broader point about who won and lost that night and what that means going forward, I have 2 points here:
1. As the late, great former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (Thomas Tip O'Neill) so famously and accurately said: all politics is local. So what does that mean? Of course Republicans are going to try to tie the broader Democratic Party, including the real Liberals and Progressives, with the Socialists, now that NYC is going to have a Socialist Mayor and that 1 of their U.S. Reps. (Alexandria O. Cortez) is a strong, potential, contender for the Democratic nomination for President in 28. But they were going to do that anyway. And they have nothing else going for them right now, anyway. They're completely in charge in Washington and their leader has a 37-40% job approval, depending on what polls you look at.
2. But as DNC Chairman Ken Martin told CNN last night, the Democratic Party is a big tent party. So that means Liberals (like The New Democrat) and most mainstream Democrats. But it also means a party that has Socialists, as we saw last night in New York. And since neither faction is big enough to govern this country by themselves, they need their center-right, their center-left, and their left-wing, working and getting elected together. Instead of 1 faction of the party trying to wipe out the other faction, before they try to defeat the Republicans.
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