An odd-numbered year is not usually a year that most people would talk about for electoral politics. Most Americans only care for the years divisible by four, when the president’s office is up for election. Some of the more politically active may also keep an eye out for all even-numbered years, when every member of the House of Representatives, a third of the Senate, and many governors races are on the ballot. But an odd numbered year? Thats for the random proposition, maybe a few seats on local or state councils, a few mayors — stuff that only the political nerds would watch out for. But 2025 was different. While other writers this week will focus on specific issues, I want to give a more broad look at the election as a whole, and what I believe it signals for the coming elections in 2026 and 2028.
New York City
I think its fair to say most people cared about election night 2025 thanks to the mayoral race in New York City. Zohran Mamdani, a young socialist assemblyman managed to take the nation by surprise by winning the Democratic primary over the summer, beating out the Democrat heavy weight from a New York political dynasty, Andrew Cuomo. At the beginning of the year, Mamdani was polling in the single digits (if he was included at all), by pollsters such as Bold Decision, the Manhattan Institute, and Unite NY. But with a unapologetically progressive and modernly hip campaign, he won the primary. His win on election night was all but guaranteed, but the magnitude of his win is worthy of comment. As of the time of writing (the evening of November 8), Mamdani has over 50% of the vote according to NBC, totaling over 1 million ballots, meaning even if all but one opponent dropped and combined their votes, Mamdani still wins. This lead, and the turnout, speaks volumes not only to Mamdani’s policy for New York, but also Mamdani’s strong anti-Trump rhetoric. The mayor-elect has not been shy in his call-to-action against the president, and it seems to have been a major boon for the campaign.
California
Later into the summer of 2025 saw a new political battle emerge, the great American pass time of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is the process of drawing districts in unintuitive ways in order to politically benefit one party or another, which is possible thanks to the minimally restricted control states get over drawing these districts. Likely as a response to negative polling, President Trump asked the state of Texas to carve out five new seats for the Republicans according to AP News, in an attempt to maintain the House majority come 2026. Gerrymandering is nothing new, but given that district redrawing is usually done every decade in response to the census, a mid-decade redraw prompted a response from Democratic governors across the country. California is unique in its district drawing practice, mandating an independent body to draw the districts in an attempt to minimize gerrymandering. Proposition 50 is the Democratic endorsed response to the Republicans, which allows Democrats to redraw the Californian districts as they please. While there was some initial worry from political pollsters, Proposition 50 won overwhelmingly, with over 64% of the vote at a total of 6.4 million, again impressive turnout for an odd-numbered election year. This theme of Democrats promising to fight Trump and the MAGA movement and receiving massive turnout will continue to show again and again.
Virginia
If you ask me, Virginia was not really a state that was expected to see any shakeups. Abigail Spanberger won handily in the state, beating out the Republican Winsome Earle-Sears by over 15%. This is a flip from Republican Glenn Youngkin, who will leave office only after one term. What should garner attention is Jay Jones’ win in Virginia. Jay Jones was the Democrat nominee for Attorney General, which, leading up to the election, seemed to have his win locked in. However, in the weeks leading up to the election, text messages were leaked where Jones indicated that if he had the choice to kill two between Hitler, Pol Pot, and then-Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, he would kill Gilbert twice. In spite of these comments, Jay Jones still won in Virginia, winning by a slimmer margin of 6% (still a resounding win). While this does line up with a worrying trend of acceptance of political violence, it also shows that even comments this extreme against the GOP can win the voters.
New Jersey
Again, this is not a map I was particularly concerned about. Delusional interpretations of the 2024 election results may have convinced a fringe few that New Jersey was on the cusp of flipping for the Republican party, but 2025 proved this belief far from reality. Governor-elect Mikie Sherrill won handedly, gaining an almost 14% advantage over the Republican nominee according to CNN.
Minnesota
Following the success of Mamdani in the NYC democratic primary, some political pundits began to frame the Minneapolis mayoral race in a similar light. Weeks after NYC, socialist Omar Fateh was named the Democratic nominee for Minneapolis, upsetting the incumbent Jacob Frey. However, approximately one month later, the Democratic party reversed this endorsement, citing potential problems with the electoral process. Frey and Fateh both advanced in November under the Democratic party, and possibly as a result of the loss of this sole endorsement, aswell as alot less national attention, Frey beat out Fateh by 6%. However, I still believe there is something to be said about Fateh’s numbers. Despite losing, despite a less attention grabbing campaign, Fateh still came within striking distance of 3-term champion Jacob Frey, which I believe still shows an appetite for change within the Democratic party, becoming a party that is staunchly anti-Republican.
Colorado
Voters in Colorado voted in favor of Proposition MM, a ballot measure that was originally worded as a measure to guarantee free school lunches to all kids by levying a new high-income tax, but was later amended to allow excess funds to fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) within the state, a new sore issue since the federal government shutdown has prevented SNAP from receiving its funds. Voters voted nearly 60% in favor of the measure according to CNN, adopting the tax-the-rich mentality of the American political left that stands in direct opposition of President Trump’s agenda.
Georgia
Georgia has recently become a swing state thanks to former President Biden’s surprise win of the state in 2020. While there was no national attention-grabbing election in the state, there were two state-wide seats for the Georgia Public Service Commission that could be used as gauges for Georgian voter appetite in 2026. The two long standing Republican incumbents holding the seat lost their seats on election night, with the Democratic challengers who promise for a focus on clean energy winning over 60% of the vote according to PBS, greater than any presidential margin since native Jimmy Carter in 1976. Among the concerns of voters was affordability in the wake of massive power-hungry AI data centers beginning to multiply in the United States. A swing of +13 from the heavily publicized 2024 Presidential election to the far quieter 2025 Commision election stands on shaky grounds to analyze, but if this were extrapolated to the entire country in 2026, could result in a Democratic supermajority, blocking almost any attempt by the GOP to enact their political agenda.
Conclusion
While its important to note that despite higher than anticipated turnout, extrapolating results directly from 2025 into 2026 and 2028 is a short sighted endeavor. Most important to this fact is that noone, even expert analysists, have any idea what the country will look like one, never mind three, years from today. However, I do believe it is fair to say that if the country continues to trend as it has been, then the Trump-flavored fascism that has defined American politics for the last nine years may come to a very prompt end, as Democrats continue to swing left in order to meet the challenges of the GOP’s right wing populism. No matter the case, I believe that in four short years, both the Republican and Democratic party will look very different than how they did the last twenty-five years.