1 of 4 | New York Democratic mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani votes on election day at the Frank Sinatra School of Arts in Queens, New York City on Tuesday. He faces Independent Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa in the race for mayor. Photo by Peter Foley/UPI | License Photo
Voters across the country are heading to the polls Tuesday on an Election Day that will see new governors in New Jersey and Virginia, and a redesigned congressional map in California.
Virginia is set to vote in its first female governor as Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and former Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a Democrat, go head-to-head.
Democrats are hoping a win by Spanberger will further push the state blue ahead of next year’s midterm elections, ABC News reported.
“It is only in Virginia and New Jersey that we have statewide elections where we can prove to the rest of the country — when given, when we have an opportunity to make a change at home in our state, we will take it,” Spanberger said at a recent campaign rally.
“We know the stakes of this election, and we know what we are for. We are for a governor focused relentlessly on lower costs on housing, healthcare and energy.”
President Donald Trump, meanwhile, has not officially endorsed Earle-Sears, but on Monday he urged Virginia Republicans to “get out and vote,” according to The Washington Post.
“Get out and vote for these unbelievably great Republican candidates up and down the line,” he said in a telephone call with supporters.
If elected, Earle-Sears would be the first Black woman to serve as governor in any state.
New Jersey is also poised to elect a first-time governor, deciding between Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a Democrat, and Jack Ciattarelli, who is running his third gubernatorial race.
The traditionally blue state had a larger share of red voters than typical in the 2024 election, and Trump lost the state by 6 points, down significantly from the nearly 16 points he lost by in 2020.
Trump has endorsed Ciattarelli, but hasn’t campaigned for him in person. Trump did take part in a telephone rally on Monday night, MSNBC reported. He’s also put his weight behind the Republican in multiple Truth Social posts, including one geared toward Lakewood, N.J.’s Orthodox Jewish population on Sunday.
“Your votes in this Election will save New Jersey, a State that is near and dear to my heart,” Trump wrote.
“You will rue the day you voted for” Sherrill, he added.
Hours into voting Tuesday, officials shut down polling stations throughout New Jersey and moved voting to new election sites after receiving bomb threats via email. Law enforcement said the threats involving polling places in Bergen, Essex, Mercer, Middlesex, Monmouth, Ocean and Passaic Counties were not credible.
Former President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has campaigned in support of Sherrill, speaking at a rally in Newark on Saturday.
“If you meet this moment, if you believe change can happen, you will not just elect Mikie Sherrill as your next governor, you will not just put New Jersey on a brighter path, you will set a glorious example for this nation,” he said, according to the New Jersey Monitor.
On the West Coast, perhaps the most consequential ballot measure up for vote in the country, Californians will decide whether to adopt a new congressional map. Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed the redistricting in retaliation to a new map in Texas that favors Republicans.
Proposition 50 would redraw the congressional map to make five districts more Democratic-leaning, potentially neutralizing the effects of the new Texas map. Democrats across the country, including Obama, have supported Newsom’s plan as a way to counteract Republican gerrymandering in predominantly red states.
“We have a chance at least to create a level playing field in the upcoming midterm elections,” Obama told Prop 50 supporters on a campaign call.
California Republicans, however, accused Democrats, themselves, of gerrymandering, with Rep. Kevin Kiley calling it a “plague on democracy,” according to ABC News.
“I think it takes power away from voters, undermines the fairness of elections and degrades representative government.”
Other key races and issues that will be decided Tuesday include:
New York City’s mayoral race pits Democrat Zohran Mamdani against Republican Curtis Sliwa and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, now running as an Independent.
Pennsylvania voters will vote whether to retain three Democratic justices on the state supreme court for new 10-year terms. The court’s 5-2 Democratic majority could be at stake.
Voters in the Houston area will vote in a special election to fill the U.S. House seat for Texas’ 18th Congressional District. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee died in 2024 and the winner of the seat in the 2024 general election, former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, died three months into office.
Tuesday’s race is a primary, which will eventually go into a runoff.
